Welcome to Beyond Bathroom Blues Podcast, helping men understand irritable bowel syndrome, IBS, reducing symptoms, and take back control of their health and their life. Each episode focuses on clarity, not quick fixes. So you can stop guessing, make sense of what's actually going on in your gut and your mind, and move forward with confidence. I'm your host, Glencoe Quinchurch. Let's get into today's episode. So many people say books change your life, don't they? You hear it all the time, this book changed my life. But what about that change your life exactly? It's like a throwaway comment. And the other thing is, half the time when you read a book, if you don't apply what's in it, even if a small percentage of it, if you don't apply it, then it's not going to change anything. You can read a book all day long. And if you don't do anything about it, take steps moving forwards, then it's not going to change anything, is it? Oh, it's a great book. So today I'm going to share with you my number one book. I did a video recently, and you can check that out. I'll attach it to the end of this one, which I give you my four top books. And after seeing comments, emails, etc., I just want to pull out this short video today just to give you the one, the best one, and talk about that. Do a bit of a deep dive on why, how to how I applied it, how I shared it with other people, and it transformed their lives. And I'll share stories about that and examples and how it changed my life as well. So not only am I going to share the book, a little bit of a summary about it, without any too many spoilers, but I'm also going to give you tips of what I did and what my friends have done that had a huge positive effect in our lives in terms of happiness, lower stress, better sleep, long list. And if who doesn't want a bit of that? If you're a bloke like I am, and you've got IBS, family man, businesses to run, all this sort of stuff going on, money, finances, kids, then who doesn't need a little bit of that? And also pass it in it onto your family as well, can you know pain it forward and have that amazing ripple effect. Without further ado, before we dive in, wireless to me, who am I if you come across me for the first time, if you're not a regular subscriber? My name is Glen, I'm 49 year old. I was in the military for 23 years in the British Army. Uh, throughout that time, I reached the highest rank to RSM, senior warrant officer, and helped manage and lead a battalion of over five to six hundred personnel, multi-millions of dollars worth of equipment and ammunition. And I left the military after a full career, drew my pension, as we as we do, uh, to take the path of entrepreneurship, start an online consult in the business with my wife and business partner, Charlie Jean. My business partner and wife, Charlie Jean, helps men specifically uh entrepreneurial men, athletes, veterans with irritable bowel syndrome, uh to get them long-lasting relief from wherever they are with all the suck so that they can get on with their life, create a legacy, a business, and have that impact moving forward without IBS getting in the way. In a nutshell, in a nutshell. Now, a lot of these, a lot of these books that I share, people that have been messaging, what about think and grow rich? And what about the Bible? Clearly, the Bible is the best. I'd say book, it's a collection of books, in it. Is it 60 odd books in there? I'm I'm tempted to say, don't quote me. Obviously, my number one books, as you will, in terms of a collection of books, is obviously the Bible. I read it every day. But most of the time, some days I get caught out and I'm like, I've not read it, I need to read some of that. But obviously, that to one side, we're talking about self-development books. So without further ado, let's dive in. Stick around, and I'll share some videos at the end as well that you'll find interesting. And if you want to watch the collection of books, then I'll share that video as well. Enjoy. Thanks. You can see that there by Robert Emmons, PhD. Silly little drawing on the front. I've read this twice, uh, and there's the stuff high as with most books, there's stuff highlighted in here and notes taken and whatnot. I had a quick flick through it again the other day before you know when I was preparing this video content for you. Uh, and it's how practicing gratitude can make you happier. Now, when I first heard about this book, I thought, and I was I read this just as I was leaving the army in 2019, and I thought, how I'm already grateful. You probably are. You're watching this, I'm grateful. I'm grateful for these the video content on YouTube because I watch loads of YouTube videos of entrepreneurs like Alex Homoza, Myron Golden, Dan Henry, Dan Martell, they're fall straight off the off the cuff. And you know, shout out to them, thanks for your content, it's amazing, and keep it going. And you know, I've read loads of their books as well. And I'm not going to talk about business stuff today, remember? Uh, for me, I was already grateful, I was already thankful, and somebody said I can't remember where I watched it. Uh you forgive me for not being able to quote directly about do it uh being even more grateful, taking it to another level. And it was actually when we were, my wife and I was with an entrepreneur, a serial entrepreneur in America called Russ Rafino. Thanks, Russ Rafino, Russ, you're a legend, uh, in clients on demand, going back again to 2019. And his sales uh head of sales, Mark von Mooser, again, shout out to him, was getting us to do a brag book. And it's like a brag book, and it was just writing down uh a page of things that we are like now, kind of like self-showing off. Like, look at me, I've done this in my life, I've done this, I've achieved this and I've achieved that. And it just refra it was reframing our minds into things that we can look out for our achievements rather than kicking ourselves downstairs, as you will, for things that we've not done too well because we're we're quick at doing that, aren't we? I was in the army, soldiers are renowned for it. Just look at the negatives, look at the negatives, work on your weaknesses, but it's not you've got to flip the script, flip the script, uh as Orion Claf said, flip that script and think work at your strengths, not your weaknesses, because weaknesses and weaknesses, you can outsource them. I know that now as an entrepreneur, I didn't at the time in the army. Is I could focus on the strengths and things that I enjoy, and then focus and celebrate the things that I'm at the wins. So that's where it started and it stemmed from. And then reading that book took it to a new level. So he was talking about one of the things, the key things in there is to do a gratitude journal and not just write down, you know, like half-heartedly, not in the moment, and just writing down. I mean, there's things like the five-minute journal that are a great start, and I think my son Janny bought me one for Christmas once. I was like, I it's it's I was really I'm grateful again, gratitude for the for the present. But to write three things down a day, I'd already been doing it for years, you know, years and years, eight, five pages of gratitude. But it is a starting point of just writing things down. Now, you think you watch this, you're thinking, I'm an entrepreneur, married, kids, I'm grateful. And I was, how is this gonna like take it to a new level? And I thought that as well. I was sceptical. I was thinking, what a load of gobbledygook, what a load of rubbish. But actually, practising gratitude at a deep level, and I'm gonna go into some hows in a second, makes you happier. The science behind this is proven, make you happier, calmer, you sleep better. Wow, hang on a minute. Are these things helpful for IBS? Of course they are. Look at what what what things can cause IBS symptoms, stress, poor sleep, as well as food. And maybe you put the food to one side for a moment. And again, this is not health or wellness advice, because I'll leave that to my wife, she's the registered dietitian. But if we can make ourselves calmer and less stressful and happier and sleep better, not only is that gonna positively affect me as an individual, and it all starts with you. Remember that. And then we reflect outwards, it's gonna impact positively my family, employees. If you've got people, a team in your business, your businesses, and it's gonna make you a better operator, a better leader. So there's all these positive things that can happen. And I took it to a new level, and you don't need to go as crazy as well. I'm crazy, I'm like all or nothing attitude in life, all or nothing, and I'll come onto that all or nothing attitude how it set me up for success with this, but it didn't set me up for success with something else I'll talk about in a second. Uh it was almost booming, cost me everything. He said to do it uh twice a week, and and and twice a week's amazing to get down, get out of journal, and all mine are in the drawer over there, over there, like you sat in this room, is write down things that you're grateful for in the morning or in the night time before you go to sleep. And I did both. I did first thing in the morning, last thing at night before I went to sleep. Why not? And I did it every day diligently. I think I missed like one or two days in years, two years plus, to the point where it was all just automatic. You don't need to go two years, you could do six months, you know, whatever. And I've paid it forward so many times and helped, I believe, helped friends out, colleagues with setting them tasks a challenge to do gratitude journaling, and it's not just about writing things down half-heartedly. Oh, I'm grateful for my wife, I'm grateful for my dogs, I've got, oh, I'm so happy I've got a house. Thank you, God, thank you for my the my ink, my income, money, food on the table. They're just like superficial, and they're a starting point. But you've got to take it to a whole different level because remember, being an entrepreneur, we've got we're trying to create all this value for people and all this income, and then we're gonna, once we've got this money coming in, we've got to decide what we're gonna do with it, whether we buy property, whether we buy stocks and shares, cryptocurrency, or we save some, or we do all this stuff, and whether we reinvest it for uh charity, then philanthropy. So we've got all this crazy craziness going on, but you've got to start with you. All everything starts with you mindset, heart set, and physic you need physical set as well, if you want to take it further. There's the three things there, and you know, one of the things that he draws on there is that most of the time things to be grateful for are outside of us, whether you believe in like I do in God and you follow Jesus, or you know, whatever religion, things are outside of us, nature. How many times have you just every day you walk outside, unless you live live in Dubai, and there might not be any trees, maybe some palm trees, how grateful you are for trees. It's like what do trees do? Look at the amount of like I know I'm not into cutting trees down en masse, but wood. Look at throughout history and even today, what what wood does, paper and all the things that trees provide oxygen, air, they're just the the list is endless when you go into it of how many things you can be grateful for. So taking it to a new level, yeah, and and it doesn't just you know talk about gratitude journaling, he talks about loads of different stuff, and he backs it up with science as well, he backs it up with evidence where they've studied people, they've studied what the effects are. I, as I said before, and before we move on, mentioned it to a friend of mine. Again, I'm not going to mention any names to sort of protect the identity there, and he lost his wife through suicide. Horrible, horrific time in his life, horrific time for his three that they had they've got three children, and he was working full time to be at work and to get a phone call to say, you know, you need to come home, the worst has happened. And I remember speaking to him, I went to the funeral and we were at the wake. Clearly, was it and I bought him? I said, Look, I've got your present, I'm gonna give it to your mum, it's wrapped up. Open it tomorrow or in a few days or even next week when you've you know just come back down to reality a bit. You're grieving at the moment, but it's it's a present, it's just a gift, and he was like, Best friend, brilliant, thank you. And that gift was I think it was leather-bound, Hugo Boss, like designer journal, like plain pages and a pen match it like a really good pen. Anyway, a few weeks passed, and he managed to get on a call. He's like, mate, this this this notebook and pen you've bought me is beautiful, you know, it's really great. Where like what's what's the crack? And I said, Listen, are you up for a challenge? Are you up for me setting you a challenge? Are you gonna commit to something? And I believe it's gonna help you through the phase of your life that you're going in at the moment with grieving, with all this negativity, and I just needed to not only commit to it, but commit to uh at least six weeks of sticking to it every day, and it's only for five, ten minutes, maybe more, and then let me know. We'll check in after six weeks, but it's up to you, you don't have to, and he's like anything, anything at the moment to help would would be helpful. So I'd just said, look, grab that journal and ped about it. So you don't need to buy anything, you've got the resources, and before you go to first thing in the morning, probably not because your kids are up and they're screaming, or if you get up slightly early before they do, or if that doesn't work, before when you hit your pillow, before you go to sleep, pull out this journal and just write things down that you're grateful for past, present, and maybe future. And he's like, How do you mean now? Obviously, we went into a bit of detail. You know, you could even be writing things down the things that you're grateful for about your wife, the relationship that you had, the three beautiful children that you've got, and then grateful that for your kids' education, for your job, the money, all this stuff, and then just and we we just carried on. And then as the weeks developed, we were talking about it, going deeper, and I think it was less than six weeks. He said to me, Glenn, this is amazing. This gratitude journaling is amazing. It's just absolutely, I mean, don't get me wrong, that he was still good, even big time. You know how you don't get over something like that in six in a short space of time, it takes years and years and years. Um, you know, the scars hit hit deep even today. But he said, Yeah, it's absolutely transforming the way I think, the way I see things, the finding gifts in stuff that I wouldn't have normally, you know, and he was then paying it forward to other people, mentioning it on Facebook posts, people that he was uh coming into contact with. So the ripple effect of sharing that knowledge, and this is why I want to share it with you today, and I'm spending more time on this book and this thing, because it will have such an amazing impact on your life, and you could pass it on to your kids. I get my daughter, she's 10, and she's got a gratitude journal, and I get her to do it, why not? You know, set your kids up for success. My other son's 25 now, when he was, you know, I'm going back a handful of years, and he actually he was the one that bought me the five-minute journal, which is a bit odd. But again, I got him to do it. I said, listen, do the gratitude journaling every single day, like build the muscle, build the muscle, and it's changed his life, and it's just an amazing thing. If you're doing it already, let me know in the comments. Let me know what you think, how gratitude journaling has affected your life, and also how is it affected if any has it affected your IBS? Does it make getting through IBS flare-ups any better, any worse? I'd love to hear your comments, right? Without further ado, and there's there's tons of other stuff in there, but that's the main thing. If I was to pull one thing out of that book to pay it forward, amazing book, life-changing. Again, I've got no affiliation to any of these books that I'm recommending today. I don't make any money from this. This is just genuinely me saying that book has 1000% changed my life. It's got me through so many tough times, if I was to summarise. And I'm gonna mention uh more about them in a second with the next book. Uh but yeah, wow, unbelievable. Uh put the card. Have you read that book? If you've read it, let me know what you think. Or if you've got it on your bookshelf and you've not read it yet, let that be the inspiration, the motivation to pick it up and start reading it as soon as possible. And before I let you go, before we part friends, so to speak, I know I mentioned in the book uh in the video about journaling, and I've got various journals. This one is as a good idea. I just wanted to add this extra bit at the end, as you will, before you dash off. This leather journal there is twofold, and what I do as an idea, and again, I don't know what what your journaling habits are like. Let me know in the comments, I'd love to know because we've all got these different ways of doing stuff, and there is no best way, is there? There is a but the worst way, it's not doing it, but there is no best way, and I'm always open to new ideas. I was journaling and doing gratitude journaling and a normal journal for ages, for years, and then I obviously got two journals on the go, and I think it was Jim Roan, I know he's passed away now, but I read or watched some of his content, and I think Tony Robbins, where they do one journal but flick it round and use both sides, uh just saves a bit of room. I didn't think of that before. And I know some people have it electronically. My son he has all his journaling is electronic on his iPad and his phone and everything, which which is great, but I like I like old school. I think there's nothing better that beats the old you know, pen and paper. It just gives you that connection and I think it sets it more in your mind rather than on the uh and I I have loads of stuff on computer as well, spreadsheets and whatnot. So this is two-sided uh to to just explain. So in the front there is my gratitude notes. I still do it now, I don't do it everyday gratitude journaling because I've built up that muscle, but at least once or twice a week, I go in there and I write even sometimes two pages of uh gratitude. I put I always put the days in there at the top, and I write everything that I'm grateful for, moments in my life that make me happy, key moments I don't want to forget, and also in there uh random written prayers as well. So I write prayers as well as saying prayers, so that's just the way I do again. You don't have to do that, it's just just some food for thought. So that's in one side, and then if you flick it around the other way, look, in the other side, I've got my Bible study notes. Who doesn't need a bit of that? Because the Bible, and I don't know what what book you read. Again, if you read maybe it's the Quran, maybe it's you've got a different religion, maybe you read Buddhism, but we all maybe you don't do any of that. Maybe you just read books, but it's it's good to write whatever books you read in, especially some of the older, the old scriptures, the old fashioned books, they're very difficult. Are they written in thousands of years ago, weren't they? And to understand what was going on back then, we will never be able to comprehend what went on thousands of years ago, even hundreds of years ago, like the culture and what people are thinking. We we have a little bit of an idea what people are doing, but hey, so I write notes in there, I you and then I can chat and research them separately with people on YouTube, etc. Do a maybe deep dive on certain things, and and in there, life lessons. So I've got life lessons, so it's just an idea. Uh, and I flick it round and I do that like say three at least two or three times a week. I go in that one, uh, just as an idea. Listen, I hope you enjoy the video, and please I just consider putting it into action and just give it a try, like my mate did. Just give it a give it a period of time, six weeks, just commit to doing it and just say, right, do you know what? What's the worst can happen? The worst outcome is you lose five to ten minutes a day doing gratitude journaling. That's the worst outcome. But is that really that bad at the end of the day? How many times, how much time do people spend, or should I say, waste, I would say, just doom scrolling on the phone? Sat, the TV's on in the living room, and they sat on the phone or on the tablet, just doom scrolling like that, checking Facebook feed, Facebook feed of friends that they've not seen in 40 years, uh, oh yeah, look what he's up to, oh, such and such, and just seeing ads, my ads and uh clicking in ads is crazy, innit? Or Amazon just having a look at what deals are on Prime and not buying anything. And if you add all that up, hours and hours and hours and hours a week just get wasted away that we'll never get that time back, versus just extra you can still carry on doing that, versus just taking, let's say, five to ten minutes before you go to bed, or first thing in the morning, and just doing this, what we've mentioned in the video, and the gratitude journaling, and really connect to it, really give you some thought. The more thought, the better, and just go deep, the deeper you go, and over time you'll go deeper and deeper, and also you'll start remembering things about your past, good things that you're grateful for, your grandparents, maybe this, that, the other. And you start writing them down and it just floods memories back, and it just I can't recommend it enough, guys. It really, really did. I'm not just saying this, trying to create a video to get some views and some comments to grow my channel. I'm not into that anyway. You know that if you watch my content, my I am not about ego, and because at the end of the day, these videos will mean something as long as it helps one per one man. If you just if it helps you and nobody else, I've achieved my aim, I've achieved my goal and the purpose of helping somebody better their life and hopefully better those around you. Take care again. Let me know in the comments. Check out the video, the full video uh of the four books. Obviously, you can skip past this one now, but thanks. Just skip, they're all bookmarks. The the long video is bookmarked, so just skip it out of the way if you've watched this, and that'll save you easily 10-15 minutes, and you can dive into book two if you just want to know. Book two is amazing if you uh if you drink alcohol and you even if it's do maybe you're not even considering stopping drinking, but you know it's affecting your sleep, and this, that, the other. Watch watch what I say about book two about the uh Annie Grace's book. Take care. Thanks for spending your time with me today. Don't take that lightly, and our precious time it is. If you found this helpful, follow the podcast so you don't miss future episodes. Until next time, take care, be blessed by the best, and keep moving forward.