Paul McCormack — Sobriety, Untapped Performance & Why Alcohol Steals Your Best

Adam Walker:I am Adam Walker, a biometrics consultant, and this is the Pharma Prescribed Podcast where leaders, innovators, and hidden voices in healthcare open up, no sound bites, no spin, just raw insight, one prescription at a time in an industry driven by data protocols and pressure. We rarely pause to ask the human questions.

Adam Walker:What drives us, what breaks us, and what truths live behind the titles we wear? Paul McCormack is the founder of Intention Performance. His journey from alcohol routines to intentional alcohol-free living has sparked a movement in personal transformation. After just 30 days without alcohol, Paul experienced such a profound shift in clarity, energy, and purpose that he never looked back.

Adam Walker:Now he coaches others to unlock their full potential without the booze. In the uk, over 20% of adults report drinking more than the recommended weekly limit of 14 units. Alcohol is linked to over 60 medical conditions, including high blood pressure, depression, and cancer. Yet, just one month of alcohol free living can lead to a 40% drop in liver fat, improved sleep, and better concentration.

Adam Walker:Whether you are in pharma coaching or simply curious about the ripple effects of alcohol free living, I hope this episode will offer you insights, inspiration, and a fresh perspective on what it means to thrive.

Adam Walker:Paul, welcome to Pharma Prescribed. For anyone who's not familiar with you, who are you and what do you do?

Paul McCormack:Thank you, Adam. I think you've summarized that pretty well I'm Paul McCormack. the founder of Intention Performance. what I do is work with growth-minded men, looking to access that next level of performance they know is there, but they might not be able to reach, and they suspect that alcohol is interfering with that.

Paul McCormack:a lot of the men I work with, feel like they're operating at 50, 60, 70% maximum, and they know that it's about 30% or more to unlock, and that's what I help them do through one-to-one coaching.

Adam Walker:That sounds wonderful. So it sounds like, there might be a backstory to that one, Paul.

Adam Walker:yeah, for sure.

Paul McCormack:as you might be able to tell from my accent, I am Scottish, although I'm currently in Sydney. hence the terrible lighting because it's nighttime here. but yeah, I, I grew up in the west of Scotland. you know, I'm approaching 40 years old, so kinda that later stage millennial, I grew up, and it almost seemed like. Alcohol was a reward that you earned with age. when you get to that 17, 18, year old mark you're now officially able to drink alcohol. that's what everyone does. when you look around, maybe your parents or family members or you know, you're watching, TV on films and, everyone is drinking alcohol either to relax, to celebrate, or to commiserate.

Paul McCormack:For me, that's what happened. I kind of grew up thinking that was a reward that I could earn. I started drinking, you know, age 16, 17, going to the pub with the fake id, back in the day and going in there and having a few drinks I just got into this habit that I think many people do, certainly of that generation where, alcohol just becomes something that happens on a weekend.

Paul McCormack:I could have continued that habit into, university when I mentioned in my ebook that my drinking became serious at university. I really took it as a proper hobby. I ended up, looking forward to the nights out and , the days out more than the actual learning, university.

Paul McCormack:So, that kind of continued as I, I went through university and then moved around a little bit. I went to new cities, I moved to London. alcohol was there for me to meet new friends. There was work drinks, or, you know, joining the football club.

Paul McCormack:There was always the subsidized bar afterwards. I'd look forward more to , the three pound pints after the game and the 90 minutes of football, because I probably hung over from the night before. and then I moved to Sydney. same thing, I was an expat, trying to make some new friends and alcohol was there to help me do that.

Paul McCormack:everywhere I went as an adult, Alcohol had been that connector that glue for me to meet and, socialize with other people.

Paul McCormack:weirdly enough, every single year. for about 10 years, I would have one month, without alcohol and I'd do that in October.

Paul McCormack:And it was for the backwards reason that I knew that in November it was my birthday and I was gonna be drinking heavily, in December. It was silly season and, you know, work, drinks, and Christmas and what have you. And then when I was in Australia January and February is the peak of summer, right?

Paul McCormack:So there's, drinks, in the beer garden, barbecues, all that kinda thing. So I knew that for those four months I was gonna be drinking probably more than I would the other eight. so take one month off . And I continued to do that for, as I say, probably the best part of 10 years.

Paul McCormack:and I'd always, live the benefits. I would always save money. my skin would get better, I'd feel sharper on a Mund and Tuesday I'd perform better than work, and just be an all around better version of myself. But I Couldn't wait for the 1st of November. I used to buy my favorite wines every weekend.

Paul McCormack:in October I'd buy one bottle of wine. So come the 1st of November, I had four bottles of wine that I could choose from and have a drink. It wasn't until COVID actually. I decided to take a, another 30 day break this time in July, but then ended up extending it.

Paul McCormack:if you've got time, I can tell that quick story, Adam, how that happened.

Adam Walker:this is absolutely your time, Paul, and already I think your making me think about my own relationship with alcohol as my family, my friends, the cultural alignment around. Alcohol being everywhere. You mentioned relaxing, celebrating, and commiserating.

Adam Walker:I think you've absolutely nailed it there. Tell me more.

Paul McCormack:that last break that I had was, it began in the 28th of June, 2020. And the reason I had that break was because that was, three or four months into COVID. I was living in Sydney at the time, and obviously not commuting to work.

Paul McCormack:Everything's kind of shut, shut down, no one's doing anything. so the glass of wine I would usually pour for myself on a Thursday night, sometimes a Wednesday. If I had a stressful week, I was doing that on a Monday, because there was no, Responsibilities or much less responsibilities for me on, on, on the Monday morning, Tuesday morning.

Paul McCormack:So Monday night I would've a glass of wine And that was Monday, Tuesday, all the way through to Sunday. I did that for six weeks. I'd probably get through most of a bottle of wine, every night for six weeks. during that time. my wife and I decided to get a dog.

Paul McCormack:We thought, this is the best time to get a dog because we're gonna be at home. We don't know when things are opening back up again. We can train the puppy, we can spend lots of time with it. let's get a dog. we made that decision in the park, one day, We got the dog, we got the puppy delivered.

Paul McCormack:And if you've ever had a puppy, the stages from those first few months are very testing. our dog Olo, used to wake up at, I don't know, anytime between five and six 30. We crate trained him, right? He had to be let out the crate at that time.

Paul McCormack:And my wife and I would take it in terms as to who would get up and let him. and when I was having that red wine hangover, even from two glasses, three glasses of wine, I just thought, this puppy is mental. He's biting me, making me play with him. I'm feeling jaded, I'm feeling tired.

Paul McCormack:I was like, right. I'm going to knock rest in the head. I'm gonna do my 30 day break that I usually do in October. I'm gonna do it now, and see through this puppy face. I didn't know this at the time, but the last drink of alcohol that I had was a random craft beer leftover in my fridge from, some gathering that had been months before.

Paul McCormack:I think it might have even been a salt flavored beer or something. It wasn't nice, put it that way. Anyway, I did 30 days and that was fine. Nowhere was open. wasn't tempted there wasn't that temptation, people going to the pub or whatever. I'd done it before, so not a problem.

Paul McCormack:Got to that 30 days. I was like, right, let's do a challenge. Let's see if I can get to a hundred days. Never done that before. It'd be quite cool to see you've done a hundred days, alcohol free. I got there, but I found that really hard. I found it really difficult because I started to question why I was doing this, because for me at the time, I still saw alcohol as something that provided me with a reward.

Paul McCormack:I still saw that relaxation, that ability to switch off. Ability to socialize when things started to open up, or we had those, times when you were allowed to go out again for a couple of hours or drink, but had to socially distance. what I did in that period was because I made that commitment to myself that I wanted to do it, I knew I was gonna stick to it, but I had to do a lot of work in the background to make sure that I was able to stick to it comfortably and not feel restriction and not feel resentment.

Paul McCormack:So I went down a rabbit hole of YouTube videos and before I started my business, I looked at my YouTube video log from that period. there's 126 videos that I watched from the 31 to a hundred days. And those videos were all about what is really happening when you're drinking alcohol.

Paul McCormack:All these videos about people that had done a year without drinking all those stories of abundance of energy and more money and, progression in career and setting up businesses and running marathons and feeling vibrant and sleeping better and better relationships. Right, okay.

Paul McCormack:that makes sense to me. And I did a lot of digging onto the health impacts. I thought to myself. My wife's a few years younger than me and I was always conscious of that and I always thought, I don't want to come across as being that older person, physically and mentally.

Paul McCormack:I want to be sharp and physically fit. I can cut out drinking because I know that I feel better, I look better. I'm getting more benefits from going to the gym by not drinking. once that, switch clicked for me, that was it.

Paul McCormack:I've now got this, logical reason and I'm experiencing the physical and mental benefits from not having a drink. things continue to snowball from there. that hundred days came and went and I said, I'm feeling good now. Let's do a year. A hundred days are brilliant, but let's say you can do a year alcohol free.

Paul McCormack:and in that period, obviously had my first, birthday without alcohol since I was 17 years old, had my first Christmas. all of these milestones that you usually associate with drinking alcohol and I didn't do them or I didn't drink alcohol during it, and I still had a good time.

Paul McCormack:In fact, in some instances I had even better time. I got to that year and I was like,

Adam Walker:this is my life now. That's wonderful. Thank you for sharing that. Paul. in the way that you described that, it's clear that there has been not only a significant change in your life in the decisions that you've made, but whatever that change is for anyone and for you, it sounds like Rolo was pivotal to that.

Adam Walker:It was, yeah. If we don't learn from these experiences, then we're foolish, aren't we?

Adam Walker:I made the point earlier around that cultural alignment around alcohol, but actually I'm really curious to know what was your career before you decided to go into the coaching arena?

Adam Walker:Because I think that's an interesting point. 'cause you clearly had A very good career and you've made a lot of decisions about where you're gonna live who you're gonna live that life with, what that's gonna look like for you. I'm curious to know how you came to be around this coaching performance company and how that came to be a thing.

Paul McCormack:Good question. I'll start from the very start, and I went to university and studied journalism. Because, my simple brain at the time thought there's two things that I enjoy and that I'm relatively good at. The first one was English is my subject. In school, my dad's a was an English teacher, and then the second one was football.

Paul McCormack:I absolutely love football. My dream was I'll become a sports journalist and I'll be able to go to the World Cup and be paid to be there. That was my dream as a 15, 16, 17-year-old. so that's what I started off doing. Went to university, studied journalism. At the same time, I got a job in a call center in a bank, and started earning, decent money with working overtime and getting some commission and things like that.

Paul McCormack:my partner at the time got offered a job in London and I was living in Edinburgh at this point. I said, right, if you're going, I'm going. we moved to London and I applied for the first job available to me, which was for HSBC bank.

Paul McCormack:So I ended up moving down, working the retail bank for a few years as a relationship manager on Oxford Street. 20, 21-year-old, 22-year-old, living in London, work, drinks, all that kinda thing. then ended up moving, to head office and working in some communications roles.

Paul McCormack:that was short-lived. I found it very corporate. and that wasn't aligned who I wanted to be. I ended up moving into the marketing, profession. I worked, full time until six months ago. I initially moved into online gaming.

Paul McCormack:I worked for, the Metro newspaper. in London, They started their own online casino. and I worked for them as, kinda social media. but that was in the media world and they were renowned for. They're after what drinks and their client entertainment.

Paul McCormack:So it was always hand in hand there. I then watched for a few startups in a similar space, online gaming. When our relationship broke down, I thought to myself, I am, not enjoying where I live. I've tried this big city life and it's just not for me. So I decided before, my, , visa status didn't allow me anymore that was gonna move to Australia. So age 27, I, packed everyth and I had into a suitcase and I had a year, working holiday visa. And the idea was to go to Australia, have a bit of a reset, figure out what I wanted to do and take it from there.

Paul McCormack:Within three weeks, of landing in Australia. I had, interviewed for a job a company where my friend worked. I was living on his couch initially. He was the only person I knew in Sydney. ended up getting a job there. And worked in marketing roles for recruitment companies for the next five to six years.

Paul McCormack:I did that until I left Sydney. In 2022 and moved back to London I worked in the law industry. for two law firms, for the next three years, still in marketing roles. in May of this year, I decided that I was gonna move back to Sydney, and in that time I had turned my vision.

Paul McCormack:for intention performance and the untapped performance project that I've created into a bit of a side hustle. I was coaching men after work and at weekends, for the last three years and decided to come back to Sydney full-time employment and fully self-employed now.

Paul McCormack:I've been doing that , since

Adam Walker:July.

Adam Walker:firstly, congratulations on that I recall when we first came to know one another, Paul. It was through the Future Self Program with our mutual friend Ryan Park. And for those of our listeners who aren't familiar with the Future Self Program, it centers around a Monday morning Men's Health check-in where we set objectives and goals for the week and hold each other accountable.

Adam Walker:on occasions there could be two or three people. The last few weeks, I think there's been more. More than 12. . There's been cohorts running alongside , the program. what was very clear to me, when I first saw you on those Monday morning check-ins was the absolute laser focus you had around your goal setting.

Adam Walker:I don't know, what your perception was of myself, and maybe you can come onto that afterwards. But I do recall when you were talking about your plans and. Moving back to Australia I know that your wife, Hannah, has joined you now along with Rolo In the last few weeks.

Adam Walker:But there were maybe six, eight weeks where you were there on your own waiting for them to arrive, getting everything set up. I remember you were ordering a car and getting your flat and tech sorted out, I feel like I've kind of lived that with you, to be honest.

Adam Walker:I've got to know aspects of you without getting to know you. That's what I wanted to say. But also I think what we've both probably gained from that future self program and the Monday morning check-ins has been that stage gate and points of reference on a weekly basis of what we're doing, how we are doing it, and at the end of that, every week we also say, I went to bed sober.

Adam Walker:If we did. My goal for yesterday was X, and my goal for today is Y, and having just completed the 90 day program with Ryan myself, I know how transformational that has been. And as a further point, I also wanted to make just my journey with sobriety actually aligns very closely with your own.

Adam Walker:In that we're both in our fifth year of sobriety, I have so many people in and around my family, my friends, and a network of people who have that relationship with alcohol that perhaps isn't serving them best.

Adam Walker:And the experiences that you've experienced around additional mental capacity, physical wellbeing. Drive determination, ability to make decisions and follow through on them. More importantly, they're all things consistency that resonate so loudly with me. Yep. So I'm curious, how can people get involved with you?

Adam Walker:this podcast is a global podcast. We have listeners all over the world and you being in Sydney. Are you dealing with primarily local people or people all over the place? How do you find your clients?

Paul McCormack:Yeah. Before we get onto that, Adam, do you mind if I just talk about the Future self program briefly as well, it's a good, a good point you made obviously of how we know each other through, through Ryan.

Paul McCormack:Ryan actually did a, a top in my old, place of work. I saw his tagline as the signs of male mental health, and thought, I want a bit of that. I'm interested in that. I went along to his talk. he's an excellent speaker, so immediately captivated me and it was an area of development for me.

Paul McCormack:I reached out to him afterwards, and I had no idea what his program was. I had no idea about the, the commitments that I was about to sign up for. But I had the most productive three months of my life from October to December last year without question. the reason for that is because there was a laser focus on what I want to achieve.

Paul McCormack:By the end of that three months, there was constant daily accountability for both myself and with Ryan as the coach. Then there was those coaching sessions, which allowed me to understand how I was going to get there on top of all the learning that came through the workshops and webinars and understanding the importance of testosterone, for example, in male mental health.

Paul McCormack:which is something that I was not aware of. just wanted to give a shout out to Ryan. you mentioned that on those Monday morning, men's Club Catchups, you were. Aware that I was laser focused, but it was because of that. it's now the Monday afternoon men's club, in Sydney and dial at 4:00 PM but I'm still getting prepared for those.

Paul McCormack:I'm still, making sure that my week is focused on exactly, what I've set down in those goals in different areas of my life and keeps me accountable.

Paul McCormack:I think the great thing about coaching, and it'll come on to your question, you just asked there was you learn so much by being coached yourself that you can then pass on to other people who want to be coached.

Paul McCormack:So it's almost like the best powering scheme in the world, right? Because you are investing in yourself. You're getting so much out of it. But then me as a coach, I'm able to pass certain things on to other people that work with me that I see fit for the program of the people that I'm working with.

Paul McCormack:I have a massive focus and an Orrin does, on the, sobriety side of things and not drinking alcohol to make sure you are sharper and you're able to meet your goals and stay consistent. My Signature program, The Untapped Performance Project is all about becoming the best version of yourself removing alcohol, but making sure that you're doing that without any resentment, without any restriction, and without having to use willpower.

Paul McCormack:So in the first 30 days of working with me, we go really deep into the alcohol aspect. Five or six sessions that we have, and we look at things like, okay, what is the vision for you? What is your ideal situation? What is your why of not drinking alcohol anymore? Because there's always that ambivalence there.

Paul McCormack:We then dive down a bit deeper into that ambivalence and we get, I've just come off a coaching call, with another client where we ended up at the end of that session with a visual representation of his relationship with alcohol on a page. And that could be quite confronting. To see. We then dive down into your values to make sure you're living in alignment.

Paul McCormack:We then look deeper into the mental and physical impacts of alcohol, and give people the tools, techniques, and tactics to, immerse back into society, if you like, with this new mindset. And we changed that FOMO to jomo. So the fear of missing out to the joy of missing out.

Paul McCormack:after that 30 days, if I've done my job properly, then that person is now driven, motivated, got more time, got more energy, and they're like, right, I now need to achieve X. And then for the next three months, two to three months, I help them achieve that through performance coaching. to answer your question, I am working locally with people.

Paul McCormack:I'm trying to build up my network here in Sydney again. But the beauty of, doing this is that we can, speak, to each other from the other side of the world. time difference can be an issue. at the moment I've got a couple of UK clients, couple of clients in Australia, don't quite have, any in the US yet, but that would really make my day, 24 hours long.

Paul McCormack:The mornings in the uk my clients can speak to me here. and then I, , deal with my Australian clients, the best place to find me is on LinkedIn.

Paul McCormack:that's where I do most of my marketing, that's where I put out all of my Thought leadership that's where you can get to know me a little bit better.

Adam Walker:thank you for sharing that, Paul, I really appreciate that.

Adam Walker:One of the points that I think people really struggle with is that FOMO that you talked about and turning that into the joy of missing out, or at least being present in situations where. You just get more from the experience. I was gonna share an experience that I've had last night. my wife and I took our kids Amelie and Samuel to see Fat Boy Slim.

Adam Walker:Now, for anyone who doesn't know Fat Boy Liam, he's a dj. He plays music. It's a fully immersive experience. we were in a room that held probably two or 300 people. There were projections and dance music going. what was incredible was the collective effervescence in the room, the joy created through music and dancing, art.

Adam Walker:what I've realized through my own journey with sobriety is being present in that. fully immersing oneself in the feelings and emotions that come up when you are in that collective happy space. And bearing in mind I'm with, the people that mattered the most to me.

Adam Walker:We were celebrating Samuel's upcoming 21st birthday, and all around us were smiling faces and projections of smileys. this morning, two of us had been drinking and two of us were sober. My daughter and I, didn't drink last night. my wife and Samuel, did drink last night.

Adam Walker:Now we all had an incredible experience and we've looked at some of the pictures and we're sharing some of the bits and pieces on our family WhatsApp group. what's really interesting is how we feel about it this morning here I am recording a podcast with you, Paul. I had to wake my son up to do some work, for a local guy he's not very happy to be leaving the house here, the half past eight this morning.

Adam Walker:And, yeah, my wife woke up and she said, oh, can you go and make the coffee and bring me a coffee up in bed? She was like, oh, I think maybe I had one too many of those Proseccos. So we all were present, but we all had a very different experience of it. And I'd just love you to perhaps reframe that.

Adam Walker:FOMO to jomo because, what's the thought behind it? What's the science behind it? Perhaps what's going on for people and why do we have such different experiences

Paul McCormack:I think the key thing is a lot of the times when people are drinking alcohol, like you just said, they're with the people that matter most to them, and they're at events

Paul McCormack:But if you think about it, maybe in isolation would still be good times, right? Weddings, concerts, sport matches, whatever it is. But because we're drinking at the same time and we have a good time, we might think, oh, it's the drinking that's brought the fund there, and we haven't had the experience of actually doing those events without the alcohol to make that informed decision as to whether or not that is the case.

Paul McCormack:When you are able to do that, you can be present, you can live in the moment, and you can experience the event in its fullest with all of your senses. The music's a great one as an example because, without getting into the technical aspects of alcohol, but it is essentially an anesthetic and it does numb your brain.

Paul McCormack:It numbs your senses. So your ability to enjoy and to listen and to feel is dumbed down. you might feel some sort of elation from that feeling, but that's not actually, what you should be feeling. you're going to that event because you want to listen to the musical you're going to.

Paul McCormack:I remember going to some football matches and not remembering some of the goals. it's bananas when you think about it. So I think a lot of people, what they have to do is it comes down to delay gratification. to give you a quick example, I went on my stag do, three years ago maybe now.

Paul McCormack:I did that sober. if. Anyone had said that to me five years ago, I would've took them straight to the loo asylum. Not a chance that I would do a sad, do, sober or not have had a drink in five years. But I did. the reason I was able to do that was because in the previous five years, I had experienced all those milestones where I would normally have had a drink, and I realized that I didn't need to have a drink to enjoy them.

Paul McCormack:What I did on the stag two was I enjoyed every single moment of it, including the mornings when I woke up went to the local coffee shop and I bought a pan of chocolate and I had a coffee and I sat and FaceTimed my dad and told him everything that had happened the night before. the rest of the stag do party were still in bed.

Paul McCormack:then waking up to have a McDonald's, and feeling terrible two hours later 'cause I hadn't agreed with them. so , what I think you have to appreciate that you might not feel that elation, that artificially stimulated dopamine hit from drinking alcohol

Paul McCormack:But actually you're still going to have a good time, and then the next day you're gonna be able to be your best self, whether that's getting up and going for a run or getting to the gym. Or having that connection with family, whatever it is that brings you those small bits of joy in life and that compounds over time on its own.

Paul McCormack:It's not a massive moment, but when you do that consistently day after day, week after week, that's when you begin to actually feel and experience that organic joy that comes from being human.

Adam Walker:As you were talking about those incremental gains over time and referring back to the future self program you reminded me of Atomic Habits and James Clear which talks about exactly that point.

Adam Walker:Doing those things time and time again, and the way that they build upon one another you don't realize it until you get to a point later on and looking back in the rear view mirror. But you're actually investing in your future self as much as you are taking yourself further away from the behaviors that were not serving you behind in your rear view mirror.

Adam Walker:And you made a really interesting, statement earlier around how your experiences have given you the tools to be a better coach. Life has that habit, doesn't it? Life happens when we are least expecting it, and often when we're not even paying attention. You talked about career moves, relocating, from Edinburgh down to London and from Edinburgh back home, and then to Sydney and all of those decisions and life.

Adam Walker:Choices can effectively be sliding doors, moments.

Adam Walker:you've had a lot of sliding doors, moments in your life One question I keep coming back to, is do you tend to follow those signs more now than you ever did before? Or are you just more intuitively aware of what's going on around you?

Paul McCormack:Yeah, I think the latter. life used to happen to me, when I was in the cycle of regular drinking. there are two things that I now have that I didn't have full access to , , I would be drinking maybe a Thursday through Sunday most weeks.

Paul McCormack:couple of glasses of wine, a few beers, not excessive very much in that middle lane. But what I didn't have was clarity. I didn't know what I wanted and I didn't know how to get there life was just happening and I was going along with emotions my partner at the time moved to London, so I moved.

Paul McCormack:It wasn't a conscious choice for me, the first time I made a real conscious choice was. that time I decided to move to Sydney I remember, it was after a night out and I was lying in bed and thinking, is this what I want to be doing and is this where I want to be?

Paul McCormack:the answer was no. So I changed it. clarity is that first thing, and you're able to get that on a daily basis when you're not drinking alcohol. The second thing, and this is probably the most important thing, which is the uns sexiest thing of all, is consistency.

Paul McCormack:And it's just showing up and doing the things that have to be done day after day to get you to where you want to go. it's probably the most boring thing, but it's the most effective thing. So combining those both together, you've got that clarity, you've got that consistency, you know where you're going and you're keeping yourself accountable by working with a coach or, having those accountability sessions then you're able to get to where you want to go

Adam Walker:I couldn't agree with you more, Paul That's why we're on this podcast today. this was the objective. This was the thing holding me back when I did that future self program with Ryan. It was, what's the thing you've been wanting to do that you haven't been doing?

Adam Walker:at the beginning of the pandemic, I'd been co-hosting a Life science podcast I said to Ryan I want to do my own podcast. We looked at all the blockers. what are the things that are holding you back? And there were an awful lot of excuses in there.

Adam Walker:And within a week, I think I'd set up my first one-to-one. I got some subscriptions for various tools that I needed for the podcast I've been putting one out every week for the last three months, pretty much, and I'm so proud of that fact I didn't go into those sessions with an intention to come out with something that I hadn't had before.

Adam Walker:But what I wanted to say to you, and as a coach, as you are now. You can unlock people's untapped potential that they don't even know they have until they're given the tools. I've said this to countless friends and family members, that it doesn't matter where your head space is at. It doesn't matter what's going on for you in your life.

Adam Walker:If you give yourself the opportunity to reflect inwards and outwards, there is so much untapped potential in everyone. We can't even fathom because we're not doing it.

Paul McCormack:Yeah.

Paul McCormack:And I think a key point about coaching, and you made the point about the untapped potential within everyone.

Paul McCormack:I find one of the most impactful moments in a session is when the coach is seeing nothing. They are listening and giving me that space to think and speak to actually get out of my head and say it out loud and then realize how ridiculous it is to say it. or I never noticed that before.

Paul McCormack:The real magic in a coaching session. It can often be just that safe space these days. my wife probably won't mind if I say this. I've mentioned it to her before these days, right? Everyone's on their phone all the time. Everyone's scrolling. Even when you're having a conversation.

Paul McCormack:and the fairness of my wife, she can actually have a conversation while she's on her phone. I've tried to catch her out a few times and she's good. She gets, 90%? There's 10% that she misses. but you don't have those moments very often these days of having someone who is listening, not to respond, but listening to hear.

Paul McCormack:And even just that, hour every week where you're able to have that is. mind blowing the consistency, it's so simple,

Adam Walker:it works a hundred percent Alongside the life coaching I do with Ryan and those Monday morning check-ins, I also, speak to a therapist and that one hour every week is the most insightful.

Adam Walker:I walk my dogs. I've got three dogs. I go out and walk, and I often don't have a podcast going. I just listen to and watch nature. that time is really time invested in oneself. there is no better investment

Adam Walker:Time with oneself listening to that going in through your ears and into your brain. You process things differently. I never go into those conversations with a list of things I need to talk about, but an hour just goes like that and at the end of it I just say, thank you for listening. That's what happens.

Adam Walker:and I feel lighter And better for having spent that time. one thing I would encourage all of our listeners is invest the time in yourself. There's no better investment than really understanding oneself. Having time in your own head in nature, feeling what you feel saying your truth and living that truth through everything that you do thereafter.

Paul McCormack:Yeah, completely agree. coaching used to be almost reserved for the elites and the execs, at the very top of corporates That's how it was. positioned, now everywhere you look on LinkedIn, if your feeds anything like mine, everyone is a coach.

Paul McCormack:which is good in the sense that it's becoming much more. Available to, anyone in any walk of life. the reason I do what I do is because I think the two most impactful things that people can do for themselves is take an extended break from alcohol and invest in coaching, and put those two together.

Paul McCormack:And for myself from last October to December at the most productive period of my life. it really can turbocharge, your ability to think, feel, perform. it's an absolute game changer.

Adam Walker:Paul, this has just been absolutely enlightening. I have so enjoyed this conversation. We've touched on so many aspects of your life, your experiences, and. making good choices on a daily basis and fulfilling one's potential. I think that's for me, the take home, but I always like to finish these conversations with a quickfire round, if you don't mind okay, go for it.

Adam Walker:What is the one piece of advice you would give to your younger self? Oh, wow.

Paul McCormack:Trust the process.

Adam Walker:What are the top three qualities you value most when building a team?

Paul McCormack:Authenticity.

Paul McCormack:the ability to listen and be open to progression and feedback.

Adam Walker:What is the favorite thing that you enjoy outside of work? Paul,

Paul McCormack:I've replaced my, glass of wine with a strong cup of coffee. it's probably not the coffee that I enjoy, it's that moment where I'm able to have 30 minutes to myself. A nice black coffee stays warm for that length of time. I sit and debrief from the day before, and plan for the day ahead.

Paul McCormack:I get that same experience from doing things on my own, I like to spend a lot of time in the infrared sauna as well, and just have that moment feeling warm, feeling comfortable, and thinking about what's

Adam Walker:happened and what's going to happen. Just on that point. I do remember at the end of the Monday morning.

Adam Walker:Club, you would always say, what's the first thing you're gonna do after this meeting? And it would be, I'm gonna make Hannah a cup of tea and take it to her. Yeah. You see, I do listen very intently. very good. Thank you. and finally, what's your number one golden rule for life and for business?

Paul McCormack:I think my golden rule for life.

Paul McCormack:Is to not take yourself too seriously.

Paul McCormack:I did that for too long and worried about what others thought. So surrendering to that, don't take yourself too seriously. Don't try and copy a personality that you admire. Just be yourself being self-employed goes into the business lesson because that authenticity piece is gonna attract, the right clients for you to work with.

Adam Walker:Thank you, Paul. You've given some really deep, insights into you as a person, you as a coach, and I hope this really resonates with our audience because you've been really honest, you've been open, and I think my experience has always been you get back what you put out in the world and you're putting out some wonderful stuff.

Adam Walker:So thank you, Paul For any of our listeners, wherever they're located. If they wanna make contact with you, Paul, what's the best way Yeah, on LinkedIn,

Paul McCormack:as I said. we can, connect at Coach Paul McCormack or, the untapped performance project.com

Paul McCormack:I'll give you the links and you can pop 'em on the show notes. Adam,

Adam Walker:thank you so much, Paul. It's been an absolute delight to welcome you to Pharma Prescribed. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have and, we look forward to hearing how the journey continues for you. Thank you so much.

Adam Walker:Thanks, Adam.