Tony skinner 00:00
Yeah. Hi and welcome to the podcast, podcast my business at www.podcastmybusiness.com.au. and today we have a great guest Matt Hale, the hypnotist, how you doing?
Matt Hale 00:17
I’m doing really well. Thanks Tony, It is lovely to be chatting here. 
Tony skinner 00:21
Yeah, I’m glad to have the opportunity to chat to you about this because there’s all sorts of myths and misconceptions and so on and so forth. And you know, if listeners hear me randomly do a chicken cluck, then you’ll know why.
Matt Hale 00:36
I do know from the time I started out, I actually always had a chicken free guarantee. That was part of my cliche busting from when I started doing this I was like, out with all that old ridiculous rubbish out with all the cliches let’s strip it down. Let’s show it for what it is and what it can really do.
Tony skinner 00:54
And, and that’s exactly the point of you know, having this interview today because hypnosis is recognized it is a Medicare and it is recognized by the by Harvard University as an actual tool. And we’re having a chat just before we came on and I thought, oh, is hypnosis advanced mindfulness?
Matt Hale 01:16
Look, that’s a really kind of good description of it. It certainly plays into that. I think it goes a bit further with mindfulness. Generally what you’re trying to do, you’re really quite in quite an English down your mind. And, you know, clearing the thought chatter out with hypnosis, you’ve pretty much taken it a step further where you’re doing that, but then you’re laying some suggestion on as to what you know, you want to be focused on. So you know, if you’re doing hypnotherapy, if I’m doing any kind of coaching, using hypnosis, we’re then going to start to layer those suggestions in and work towards that goal, because when your mind’s a lot quieter, and without all that craziness going on, we can focus on that. You know, of course, if I’m doing stage show for my corporate events, you know that we’re doing that for fun, you know, we want people to feel like they’re there in some kind of bizarre kind of situation. And again, so we’ve caught their mind. And then we Yeah, then we go into that kind of like, you know, whatever. kind of fun scenario that I’m playing out on stages. 
Tony skinner 02:19
Yeah, you’ve mentioned two key words that were quite interesting. You mentioned quiet mind and craziness. And let’s face it, during this event, there are two things that are really hard for us to do
Matt Hale 02:32
Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, we, we are being bombarded at the moment with overall with a bombardment of negativity. And this has been quite interesting because I’ve spoken to many people who would never class themselves as in the kind of anxiety prone, you know, Bosket, I guess, but, you know, we are all kind of suffering from that a little bit because simply because There is so much more negativity around us. It may not be directly your situation or it could be directly your situation. But it’s certainly someone you know, it’s certainly, pretty much everything you’re seeing on social media is printed with pretty much everything you’re seeing on the news. So it’s very hard to be completely impervious to that without some kind of mental training. So yeah, we I’ve certainly been helping people, you know, deflect that consciously rather than just being becoming a victim of that.
Tony skinner 03:28
Now, I’ve heard over the years that you have to be a word perceptive or responsive to hypnosis, not everybody’s capable of being hypnotized. Not great.
Matt Hale 03:42
It’s kind of correct basically. First of all, you have to consciously want want to take part in the process, because if not, I’d certainly just be stood at every ATM clicking my fingers and saying, Hey, can you just give me that money? You believe it’s mine now? Right? So
Tony skinner 03:57
it’s like that hypnotist in Little Britain look into my eye. Yeah
Matt Hale 04:04
You know if life were that easy, honestly, I wouldn’t have to be kind of a jet. Well, you know, up until this point jumping on planes going around the world doing what do my thing I could literally be using it for evil. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. So yeah, it’s permissive. You know, you’re gonna want to take part and yeah, some people are fantastic at it the first time that they try it, and then some people just like, you know, if you try yoga or meditation for some time sometime, it just takes a bit more practice, but the good thing is you can become better at it. You know, so I think especially depending on what your preconceived ideas you’re that first time you try it, for some people are boom, yes, it feels great. I’m there I can really focus. I’m kind of like feeling this. For some people, that kind of half not fighting it, but they just say okay, what what happens now? What happens? Now and I think the expectations are sometimes way out of line of what the reality is the reality is simply, you know, we’re kind of focusing on our thoughts so much that starts to feel real. It’s pretty much not much more than that in the process. that’s it. Yeah.
Tony skinner 05:15
Okay, so while we’re focused on the event, how do you help people to not sure about de stress because there is good stress and bad stress and good press is what you stress. There we go learn that years ago, the word would come in handy eventually. So how do you help me well, because I know I certainly back in March, I was one shutdown away from being out of business,
Matt Hale 05:43
right? Yes.
Tony skinner 05:44
And everyone around me was confused because I never hit negative. I’m always positive. I can’t help it. It’s a good state to be. But getting from that to he now it’s only like six months later. It’s a long time but doesn’t feel like a long time. How can you compress that and just move on from it?
Matt Hale 06:06
I think you have to go back to basics. And then do you want me to talk strictly in the business sense of business owners business freak people? So yeah, I think I mean, one of the key things I’ve always been saying throughout this is that, you know, remember to step inside the world of business, you are already stepping into something, which most of the time you’re creating from nothing. It’s an idea, you’re leaving stability behind, you’re leaving a lot of safety nets behind to actually move into that into the first place. So if you take yourself back to that time, you know, how did you approach everything? How did you mentally get over everything because getting a business off the ground is incredibly tricky. Businesses go to the wall every day. 
And yet, you know, if you’re still in business right now, you’ve already fought against the odds. So if you can take your mind back to that time, like how did that drive Phil and this is where I love visualization because you you can literally Close your eyes and go, Okay, let’s let’s just see, you know, when I was sat there thinking, I’m launching my business next week or get my stuff together to actually launch this business, how did that feel? What was my team around me? What was the vibe? What was the energy? What was what was my drive? What was my determination, kind of really? Well that backup inside you feel it, see it, hear it around you.
The more descriptions you are, the more the more vivid it is that in your mind, the more brighter it is in your mind. If you’re going to start to bring that back to your current situation if you’ve been battling during this event to overcome, you know, the hardships that this has thrown up. Remember, you’ve done it before in a different context. But this is this is another blip that you can ride out. This is just another roadblock but you overcame that first one which was so incredibly hard, which was just getting a business off the ground.
Tony skinner 07:55
So is that like embrace the scariness back then and then Embrace it again now and go Yeah, well, okay, it was scary, then it’s been scary now, but I’m still around.
Matt Hale 08:06
Yep. Exactly. Yeah. And that’s the thing, you look at, you know, you may have launched your business not knowing if you’d still be in business Two months later, when you first launched, is it going to be successful? How am I going to get my clients?
Are people going to like the service or product I’m selling. But all that all those what ifs, you got over those to actually end up where you, you know, where you got to. And so now we’re at another crossroads of what ifs. And these are the what ifs that are not helpful. Because there’s so much uncertainty out there at the moment that there’s no point dwelling on my world What if it goes on for another few months? Or what if da da da? Or what if let’s deal with what we do know at the moment, we do know we’ve got a customer base, we do know we have a product or service. Okay, where does this fit in?
Where can I divert that needs the most help at the moment or the people are gonna get the most benefit from out from this at the moment. You haven’t existing client base having an existing customer base, you know, they’re your cheerleaders as well focus on your customer success stories over that period of time of building business up to whatever point you’re at. Right now. You’ve had some amazing wins with your customers. And you know, look back on that and see, let that still be the drive to push you over this, this road, this boat hump.
Tony skinner 09:24
Yeah, it was actually true because I instead of me focusing on the new or what do people call focusing on new economy or whatever? I’m just asking, what’s next? Yes, what’s next? What’s next? And that’s it, you know, whatever it is, it’s coming. So just focus on that don’t focus on the negative and just move forward on that.
Matt Hale 09:49
Yeah. And I think I do also say to people if you are suffering, the what ifs and you know, we like I said, it’s hard to be completely impervious to it over this critical situations that we’ve been thrown into. However, if you’re suffering from the what ifs, at least do yourself the service of going on to the other side of what ifs as well if you’re sat there going, or what if this lasts another six months?
Or, you know, what if no one wants this service because it’s irrelevant now or what they look at these these are unknown things you’re worried about things you don’t know yet. So at least do yourself the service of actually dwelling on some of the positives that but what else? Okay, so what if this changed my business in a way that I get to spend more time working from home and not traveling? What if the service I can tweak right now means it affects more people? for the for the good, you know, what if this goes on for longer than I ever expected, and that forces me to pivot in such a way I find a brand new product or a friend a brand new search service. So then what happens is your mind starts getting used to actually having at least some sense of positivity in there. So you’re never always going to be the bearer of negativeness. Because your mind loves making patterns accidentally or on purpose. So if you always start on the evidence bad, everything’s great. Everything’s bad, everything’s crazy. do that a few times, and your mind is going to go Don’t worry, Mike, I run that bad, crazy pattern for you. But if you start to interrupt that pattern of force a new one on it, okay? I’m thinking of these what ifs, okay, just got to do myself the service of thinking of the other side of the coin, cool, whatever. This is the biggest turning point in my career. What if this leads me into blah, blah, blah, dwell on that little bit. That is also habit form.
It’s also pattern forming and twofold as well, because not only does it start to show your mind, we’re going to default to some positive along the way. They also start to make positive stuff kind of top of mind. So when you are actively thinking about things, you know, I’m not someone who kind of says, sit around Zen out manifest something and suddenly there’s a BMW on the driveway. Right like this, I’m so I’m so sorry. But I do believe that if you have something to top of mind, you’re much more likely to recognize those opportunities that help you towards that goal as they come along. Okay? It’s, you know, it’s just like, you know, when you start to think I’m gonna get a red car and you start to notice all the red cars on the freeway or whatever it is, you know, when it’s top of mind, you become more aware of those things around you. So having that kind of positive side of it as well means you’re gonna start to look out for things that are gonna, if you’re thinking what if this is going to pivot me to my best position in business ever? Well, they inhale somewhere in the back of your mind, there’s going to be something looking out for that thing that’s kind of pivot you into the best situation ever. 
Tony skinner 12:44
Absolutely. I think the reality is, is that we will get complacent we’ll get lazy we all get accustomed to maybe getting business easily or easier and what have you now we’re going to start working for it again. So I think that’s what people We’ll need to focus on is it? Yes, you know, there’s opportunities out there, I need to start working again. I can’t be as lazy as complacent and unfortunately, I think a lot of the businesses are going to collapse and those that are going to be lazy and complacent.
Matt Hale 13:12
Yeah, I think that the the word here is is proactive because, you know, I come from a mix of entertainment and business, you know, I do a lot of corporate entertainment where I provide the, you know, the corporate comedy hypnosis show, you know, big conferences, awards, nights, all this and things, but then also do the other side of it, where maybe a competency to do in the entertainment, I’m actually doing the keynote talk about stuff to do with the minds. But within both of those businesses, I had I you know, I have a good community around me of people who do the similar kind of thing. And I see a vast divide. And that’s a vast divide of those people who are like, Oh my God, my world’s falling in because we were kind of kind of one of the first of all, you know, large public events and traveling around to get to them and probably one of the You know, last to come back up. So, you know, there is on the one side of this community of, of my people who do the similar kind of thing to, to me entertainers and speakers, who basically gone into chaos, like, when is this going to end when I finally get back to normal, but I’m just gonna wait it out and just hope the money lost and that. And then on the other side, you know, there’s other groups of people and probably much like myself who kind of go, Well, this is opportunity. Okay. Am I going to be jumping on the stage next week? Or in six months or a year? I don’t know. But I’m not going to wait around and let that be the determination of you know, how successful I am so, so where do we go from here? Let’s create some stuff online. Let’s, you know, let’s have this have the time for for more coaching, which I don’t normally have the time to do because I’ve been, you know, traveling around the world doing, do my shows and speeches and, you know, there’s there’s opportunities out there and I think that’s, that’s the key is not to let the grass grow on your face, you know, proactive And just looking out what niche Can you feel? Where can you be a service even just being there for people in this time in any kind of free way that you can help? You know, when business comes back online, if you’ve helped someone because of the your knowledge and your tools over the time over your downtime, they’re much more likely to be looking at you when they need your original service.
Tony skinner 15:24
Yes, interesting, because talking about free and good resources on your website, www.matthale.com.au//COVID-19. You’ve got one that I’m interested in, which is have a holiday without leaving the house. Hack we describe that in a minute.
Matt Hale 15:41
Oh, virtual holidays are beautiful. Like we’ve all got amazing imaginations and quite often we don’t use them enough or we don’t indulge. But you know, how real your mind can make something. You know, what it’s like to wake up in the middle of a dream thinking you’re falling. You know, that didn’t actually happen in real life, but it felt so real. So these are some Little guided audios which take you into a nice relaxed state of mind. And then you can choose one of I think I put five different ones together, which where I’m basically just describing whether it’s a beach resort, or whether it’s a ski of snow holiday and taking you through the smells, the sounds, the actions, the things around you, and just letting your brain fill in the gaps and really, you know, feel the kind of good vibes of the holiday of your choice.
Tony skinner 16:26
Fantastic. All right, cool. All right. So any particular tips or tricks that you’d like to let people know about?
Matt Hale 16:33
I just always think the, the probably the one I’ve been asked about so much does come from the anxiety, stress, worry kind of side, obviously. And I think the main thing I’ve been saying to people is similar to what we were saying earlier about, you know, the having the kind of positive side of the what ifs as well, but also just know that you don’t need to be a victim of your negative thoughts. So if you are just Philippine it’s getting a bit too much. It’s getting a bit crazy. You know, you are battling a lot of negativity enter in your head. Remember, your brain just does stuff anyway, it’s gonna think all sorts of things, some things are gonna be great some things bad, that’s fine. But what you can do is have a go to happy positive thought I, I love picking a nice location you’ve been to whether it’s a nice beech forest or whatever it is. And having that as a nice little kind of memory thought where you kind of think of it all the little detail about it. You know, how blue The sky was, how nice the water was, that you know, what does it look like when you look up and down the beach or wherever you are? and having that you can’t involve your head into fully formed thoughts at the same time. So if you go I’ll go on negative thoughts. Okay, I’m going to pull out my, you know, beautiful location. I’m going to just put my mind to that for 30 seconds. You can no longer think of that horrible thing you were thinking of a minute ago. Again, it’s pattern forming, it stops negative becoming your default.
Tony skinner 17:55
Like I said, I think about the beach. Think about the rain forest. Think about the trip to Paris and give it
Matt Hale 18:03
some time in life, a certain event, whatever. But just something that makes you feel happy each time you think of it and you think, oh god, that was amazing, or that place I love that place or whatever it is, but something that gives you that corner or Yes, you know, our thoughts have such power. You know, visualization is so key in so many different ways. And we don’t need to just let it be the, you know, top sports people who use that, you know that when they focus on their game or their their golf swing, and then it plays out when they actually take that shot for you. It’s not just the domain of top sports people, we can we can use this power for across all walks of life, really. 
Tony skinner 18:38
It’s a domain of the top business people as well. So there’s really absolutely,
Matt Hale 18:41
absolutely, some of the best business people use visualization without even knowing you hear it in their talk. You know, I always saw myself running a company like this. It was a vision I had, you know, it’s all in there. It’s all in the way they talk as well.
Tony skinner 18:55
Great. Thanks very much for your time, Matt. So that’s Matt Hale at www.matthale.com.au that You great free resources there on various issues, smoking and so forth. And yet have a listen some of those, especially in this time of madness that’s starting to come well come good for some of us. For most of us, some of us others is still going but you know, we’ll get to the site is going to be frickin awesome. Look for those opportunities.
Matt Hale 19:24
Fantastic. Thanks, Tony.