Feeling stressed heading into Christmas? You’re not alone.
In this final 2025 episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success, I share two simple tools that can reduce stress and mental tension in just a few seconds — perfect for busy leaders and business owners.
This episode also marks an important milestone for the podcast. After 26 weekly episodes in this 6-month trial run, I originally decided not to continue the show next year. But something changed… and I share the full story of what made me reverse that decision and commit to continuing in 2026.
🎧 In this episode you’ll discover:
00:00 – Why this episode matters
01:10 – Gratitude for your support + Spotify award
03:25 – The surprising turnaround: why the podcast will continue
07:45 – Why stress levels spike before Christmas
10:30 – Tool #1: Rapid stress reset in seconds
13:10 – Tool #2: A simple mental tension release you can use anywhere
17:30 – Final reflections for the year
If you celebrate Christmas, I wish you a joyful, restorative, and peaceful one.
Thank you for supporting the podcast during its first year — your messages, comments, and listens have meant more than you know.
See you in the new year!
Warm regards,
Mikal
In this episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success, we take the next step in the meditation journey we began over the last two episodes — and this time, we actually meditate together.
I guide you through my personal 5 Stages of Meditation, a process I’ve developed over 32 years to help busy professionals move from basic awareness to profound inner stillness and fulfilment.Here’s what we explore:
1. Mindful OF X – Building awareness of what’s present.
2. Meditate ON X – Deepening the experience with focused intention.
3. Experience Mental Stillness – Meeting the quiet beneath the noise.
4. Meditate ON Stillness – Deepening your relationship with that quiet.
5. Dissolving the Meditator – A transformative shift beyond effort and identity.
Whether you’re new to meditation or you’ve been practicing for years, this guided experience offers a simple, practical way to access more joy, clarity, and presence in your daily life.
If you’d like more personalised guidance with this practice, feel free to reach out — I’m always happy to help you explore it further.
In this episode, I take you on a very personal journey through 32 years of meditation — from living for a year at a meditation centre, to a deep 3-week solo retreat in a mountain hut, to multiple 10-day silent Vipassana retreats… all the way to where my practice lives today (spoiler: you’ll find me meditating while driving, cooking, working — even making love).
I share the meditation system I designed specifically for busy business people, and how my understanding of meditation has moved far beyond the cross-legged-on-a-cushion stereotype.
Together, we explore the Purpose of meditation, the Outcomes it creates, and the real-world challenges that get in the way of actually doing it.
And to wrap it all up, I give you a couple of simple, practical ways to either start — or deepen — your own meditation journey.
All of it is aligned with the three ‘IN’ pillars of this podcast: IN-sights, IN-spirations, and IN-tentional actions.
There’s a lot of value in a short episode — and I hope you find something meaningful for you.
Got questions? Don’t hold back.
Comment or email me at coach@mikal.nz
In this episode, I’m joined by fellow Mental Fitness Coach Cheryl Robinson, who shares how strengthening her mental fitness has transformed her life in unexpected ways.
Cheryl opens up about how her practice improved her relationships, inspired her to join a choir, and even helped her overcome a lifelong fear of rats.
She also introduces a concept I instantly fell in love with—“Project Status”—a simple yet powerful way to understand where we place our energy.
We dive into her experience with Journalling and Nonviolent Communication (NVC), and how both have supported her personal growth and coaching journey.
You can connect with Cheryl on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cheryl-robinson-01/
And email her at: croblinc@gmail.com
In this episode, I take you back to the very beginning of my journey with meditation — more than 30 years ago — and explore how it’s shaped my life and my work as a coach for business owners and leaders.
We look at the powerful connection between meditation and mental fitness, and why this ancient practice is still one of the most effective tools for building calm, clarity, and resilience in today’s fast-paced world.
But before diving into techniques or benefits, this episode starts with a simple — and surprisingly profound — question:
👉 What does “meditation” really mean?
Here’s a snippet from the episode:
“Most people think meditation means sitting still, breathing slowly, and trying not to think.
But the word itself tells a deeper story.
It comes from the Latin meditārī — to think deeply, to reflect —
and mederi — to heal.
So at its root, meditation means to reflect deeply… in order to heal.”
If you’ve ever wondered whether meditation is worth your time — or how it can truly serve your mental fitness — this episode will give you a fresh, grounded perspective on why it matters… and why it’s worth bothering.
For any personal support with meditation, let's have a conversation. Email me at coach@mikal.nz
This episode is especially close to my heart. I’m joined by my wife, Kathy Menzies, who shares her powerful and deeply personal journey of struggle, transformation, and growth.Kathy opens up about:
💔 Losing her brother to suicide
💸 The pain and lessons of bankruptcy
🧠 The impact of poor mental fitness — and how she rebuilt it
❤️ Her remarkable transition from school teacher to Sex, Love & Relationship Coach.
What I love most about this conversation is Kathy’s openness and courage. It’s raw, real, and filled with hope — a reminder that no matter how dark life gets, healing and growth are always possible.
Also, this episode is recorded in our new sanctuary that we are now opening up to individuals and couples to come for retreat, rejuvenation and taking their life/business/relationship to the next level. To learn more, email to coach@mikal.nz
Episode 20 – Time for Something Completely Different!
In this episode, I get personal — really personal — as we explore buttons. You know, those emotional triggers that get pushed by the people around us.
I share my own journey of discovering what pushes my buttons, how I learned to react differently, and the surprising insight that allows you to “push” other people’s buttons without actually doing a thing.
Welcome to The Art of Button Management — a fresh and powerful look at emotional awareness, mental fitness and influence.
In this episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success, Jason Lennie shares his raw and honest journey through repeated cycles of burnout — and the powerful moment he finally recognised the destructive pattern behind it.
That awareness led Jason to seek coaching support, helping him redefine how he lives and leads — creating a more productive, sustainable, and deeply fulfilling life and business.
Jason also reveals four books that have profoundly shaped his growth, along with an entrepreneur profiling system that transformed the way he understands himself and runs his creative brand strategy business.
The books are:
7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
Pocket of Do by Chris Do
Win Without Pitching by Blair Enns
Time Management: A Complete Waste of Time by Mikal Nielsen
The profiling system is Wealth Dynamics by Roger Hamilton
Jason is the founder of Ledge, a creative brand strategy company.
🌐 Learn more at www.ledge.nz
💼 Connect with Jason on LinkedIn or reach out via email: studio@ledge.nz
In this episode, we continue the powerful journey from episode 16: Triangulating Success.
With you Life Purpose and Life Mission Statement in place (EP16), we take the next step in the Triangle Model: What is it that is truly important to you at this moment in your life.
It is filtering your life purpose into every aspects of your life: Living Purposefully
Download the free Action Guide that has the full process outlined. Here the link: https://mikal.nz/actionguide
Former national triathlon coach, successful businessman, acclaimed motivational speaker, and cancer survivor—John Shackleton’s story is one of resilience and reinvention.
But his most powerful transformation goes beyond any title or achievement.
In this candid interview, John reveals the mindset and heartset that have redefined his life and continue to inspire thousands.
John also shares practical tools throughout our conversation, including a book that made a big difference to the quality of his life.
In this episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success, we move beyond the lighthouse concept introduced in Episode 12 and step into one of the simplest yet most powerful success models I’ve ever created: The Triangles.
I’ll walk you through the general use of this model and then dive into its most profound application—using it to design your Life Purpose.
Once defined, this becomes your personal lighthouse, guiding every decision and shaping how you live, lead, and run your business.
If you’ve been searching for clarity, direction, or a deeper sense of meaning, this episode will help you chart a course toward success that feels aligned and purposeful.
For further support with this, download the free Action Guide that has the Triangle concept and process in it. \
Here’s the link: https://mikal.nz/actionguide
If you want to know more about the book Time Management: A Complete Waste of Time, it’s all here: https://mikal.nz/time-management-book
In this episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success, my guest Patrick Sherratt shares his remarkable journey from a challenging childhood to becoming a business owner dedicated to helping others manage stress and overcome trauma.
Patrick opens up about the turning points that shaped his path, the tools that supported his transformation—including a powerful book and an ancient perspective on the four levels of happiness—and how he now equips youth, professionals, and organizations to build resilience.
With experience delivering workshops for Air New Zealand staff and management, running seminars for health professionals, and teaching exam study strategies to high school students, Patrick’s passion for facilitating stress management and mental fitness shines through.
His story of moving from very low to very high mental fitness is both moving and inspiring.
For more about Patrick’s work, including his books and online courses, visit innervate.co, or connect with him on LinkedIn or via email to patricks@innervate.co
The book he mentions is Mind Power by John Kehoe
In this episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success, we dive into one of the most overlooked performance tools for business owners and managers—your breath.
Breathing is something we do more than 20,000 times a day, yet most of us are doing it wrong, without even knowing it.
Discover how restricted breathing silently drains your energy, clouds your decision-making, and amplifies stress—and how restoring natural, full breathing can dramatically shift your leadership, your focus, and your wellbeing.
I share my personal story of realizing just how restricted my own breathing had become, and the transformation that followed when I learned to restore it. You’ll learn:
✅ How proper breathing keeps you calm under pressure.
✅ Why it sharpens focus and boosts energy.
✅ The role it plays in better decision-making.
✅ How leaders who breathe well model resilience and confidence for their teams.
If you’re ready to unlock a simple yet powerful game-changer in business and life, this episode will show you why the breath truly is your greatest untapped resource.
You can access my online Breathing for Life course here: https://www.innervate.co/collections
And the article on LinkedIn here.
If you want personal support with this, email me at coach@mikal.nz
The breathing practice I refer to for my morning practice is the Wim Hof Method (plenty of videos available on YouTube).
In this episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success, my guest Derek Hansen shares a deeply personal story of how the Covid pandemic shook him as a business owner and leader. At the time, he lacked the mental fitness to handle the unexpected stress and turmoil — until he reached a breaking point that led to powerful transformation.
Derek opens up about the journey of rebuilding his resilience, growing his mental fitness, and turning things around not just for himself, but also for his business. He also shares simple yet powerful tools and two books that made a profound impact on his path.
This episode is a reminder that even in the toughest seasons, growth and renewal are possible with the right mindset and support.
👉 To learn more about Derek and his company, connect with him on LinkedIn.
The two books Derek talks about are:
Three Magic Words by U.S. Andersen
Think and Grow Rich by Wallace D. Wattles
In this episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success, my guest Derek Hansen shares a deeply personal story of how the Covid pandemic shook him as a business owner and leader. At the time, he lacked the mental fitness to handle the unexpected stress and turmoil — until he reached a breaking point that led to powerful transformation.
Derek opens up about the journey of rebuilding his resilience, growing his mental fitness, and turning things around not just for himself, but also for his business. He also shares simple yet powerful tools and two books that made a profound impact on his path.
This episode is a reminder that even in the toughest seasons, growth and renewal are possible with the right mindset and support.
👉 To learn more about Derek and his company, connect with him on LinkedIn.
The two books Derek talks about are:
Three Magic Words by U.S. Andersen
Think and Grow Rich by Wallace D. Wattles
In this episode of Mental Fitness – The Gateway to Success, I explore the power of building your own lighthouse—a personal beacon that guides you through the dark and stormy patches of life and business.
I’ll walk you through the quickest method I know for creating this inner guide, the same approach that helped me navigate stress, anxiety, and frustration.
Plus, I’m sharing a free Action Guide you can use to put this process into practice right away—so you can create a steady light to keep you focused, resilient, and moving forward no matter what challenges you face.
Access your free Action Guide here: https://mikal.nz/actionguide
Suggested previous episodes leading up to this one: EP6, EP8 and EP10
Also referenced in this episode, are my conversations with Russell Clark in EP3, and Howie Clare in EP7
The book referenced Time Management: A Complete Waste of Time can be found here: https://mikal.nz/time-management-book
In this episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success, Tony Brooks introduces a powerful new term: Wholesale Transformation. He opens up about the hidden cost of his ongoing business success—neglecting himself and those closest to him—until everything came crashing down in his late 40s.
Tony shares with raw honesty how asking for help became the turning point that shifted his mental fitness from rock bottom to a much higher level in a surprisingly short time.
His story is both vulnerable and inspiring, offering hope and perspective for anyone navigating their own challenges.
Connect with Tony Brooks on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-brooks-81118193/
In this eye-opening episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success, we debunk the myth of time management and reveal why time itself doesn’t exist.
Discover a transformative approach to managing what truly matters, leading to deeper fulfillment, higher productivity, and less stress. We break it down into three simple steps:
Step 1: Realize the reality that time is an illusion.
Step 2: Replace it with something you can manage.
Step 3: Unlock deeper fulfillment, greater productivity, and less stress
We also reference the timeless wisdom from Alan Watts’ book Become What You Are and share a free Action Guide to help you put these insights into practice right away: mikal.nz/actionguide
Tune in to shift your perspective, reclaim your energy, and thrive without chasing the clock.
In this raw and vulnerable episode, our guest, Lloyd Shand, opens up about reaching a breaking point, where burnout put his family and well-being on the line.
He shares how he discovered the importance of mental fitness and how that eventually led him to sell his business and dedicate his life to helping other men navigate the world of business, family and purpose.
Tune in for an honest conversation about overcoming burnout, prioritizing mental health, and finding purpose through resilience.
The book Lloyd recommends is: The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma
For more information on Lloyd Shand, check out his website here: https://www.thecalmguy.co.nz/
and his LinkedIn profile here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lloydshand/
To book a conversation with Lloyd, email him at lloydshand.ls@gmail.com
Struggling to manage your time effectively as a business owner or leader?
The problem might not be your schedule—it could be the myths you’ve bought into about time itself. In this episode, we debunk seven common misconceptions that hold you back from mastering your time. By challenging these myths, you’ll unlock a fresh, more productive, and fulfilling approach to time management.
What You’ll Learn:
Bonus: Grab the free Action Guide to apply these insights: https://mikal.nz/actionguide
Missed the intro to this time management series, based on the bestselling book Time Management: A Complete Waste of Time?
Catch up on Spotify [https://spotifycreators-web.app.link/e/mZ5mKF49uVb]
or YouTube [https://youtu.be/edbi_HBuLcI].
Why Listen? This episode delivers practical, myth-busting insights to transform how you approach your day, helping you work smarter, not harder.