Welcome to the final episode of our first series on Positive Personal Power. Today, we’re turning the tables and Stephen Dickens interviewed one of the Legacy media Hub founders and founder of Positive Personal Power Podcast Nathaniel Schooler.
Nathaniel is currently embarking on a road trip around Europe and this episode is an update of the why and the how and of course what Nat has been getting up to.
Nathaniel Schooler took a road trip around Europe and this episode is an update of the why and the how and of course what it has been like so far.
Hosted by IBM sales leader Steven Dickens. This episode turned the tables and Nat got a chance to share a little bit of his family history.
He also explains what travelling has been like across Europe under the shadow of Covid19.
If you want to learn more about Nat’s trip Facebook is the best place to see all his posts.
He talks about the Mann family’s 1933 vintage Lagonda. The picture is the slightly earlier model, Nat’s grandfather is in the passenger seat.
https://www.facebook.com/natschooler
A full transcript from the interview is below.
Nathaniel Schooler 00:49
Oh, this is quite interesting. I’ve got Steven Dickens here with me today and welcome before I get stuck in! Nice to see you, Steven.
Steven Dickens 01:00
It’s always good to be on the show, Nate.
Nathaniel Schooler 01:05
It’s, fantastic. I mean, I know you’ve been on quite a few podcasts with me over the last four or five years. And this is a really monumental episode because it brings together all the key learnings that I’ve had in the Positive Personal Power’s first 20 episodes. And you know, we’ve interviewed people like Stanley Tucci…
Nathaniel Schooler 01:26
We’ve interviewed, famous cricket players, famous rugby players, we’ve interviewed the founder of Coffee Republic, we’ve interviewed, a whole load of amazing people, and I have been very privileged to have Michael Tobin OBE arrange a lot of these interviews for me in the beginning. And, you know, this episode really is to kind of sum up what I’ve learned from from all these episodes and also go through kind of, where I’m at right now and the road trip that I’m on and you’re going to be basically talking to me and asking me about it.
Steven Dickens 01:59
So yeah, in a minute I get to turn the tables on you. It’s not you interviewing me. It’s the other way around there. So I’m looking forward to this.
Nathaniel Schooler 02:09
It’s strange, very strange.
Steven Dickens 02:12
So, I mean with that in mind, we’ve been chatting over the last few days. And I think it’s been really interesting to hear a little bit about the sort of road trip you’ve been on. And that sparked us brainstorming about this podcast. I think the interesting thing for me and will be interesting for the listeners is this road trip sounds like a microcosm of the journey you’ve been on more widely, so maybe give us a sort of short term lens on what the last sort of a couple of months have looked like. And then we’ll maybe go broader from that and talk about the journey of discovery you’ve been on?
Nathaniel Schooler 02:51
No, sure. Well, like most people, I was kind of sitting there and I was, you know, in my bedroom, working on my computer. Like a lot of people work in their bedrooms and you know sitting there and I was like this is just too much. Like I can’t, all I do is I get in my car I drive to Lidl and I go and get some food and then I might, you know, go for a walk or something.
Nathaniel Schooler 03:18
But like this isn’t living like this is, this is existing. And with Brexit looming and these kinds of things, I was thinking, Well, what the hell am I gonna do like if I want to move and I want to move somewhere in Europe, I need to do it before the end of Brexit happens, before the actual date, which really is the end of this year. Yeah. So I was like: -“Well, what am I going to do? Like where am I going to go?” So basically just got all my stuff and booked.
Nathaniel Schooler 03:49
Well, I first of all, I booked the Euro tunnel back in. I think it was about May or something or April, but unfortunately, Poland closed the border, three days before I was going to leave. So I literally just missed going at that point. So, then I stayed and I worked from home. I went to Lidl every week and I got my food and I, you know, put my mask on and I washed my hands and you know, and all these things I actually wasn’t wearing a mask because I was one of these mask deniers at that point. And, after my cousin hassled me and he was like, you’ve got to wear a mask, his dad was you know, head of admissions for Harvard medical and he’s like, this is a fact you need to wear a mask.
Nathaniel Schooler 04:33
So when I got to Poland, you know, everyone was wearing masks, so I booked this ticket. And I deferred it because I couldn’t leave because the borders were shot so as soon as I heard like, you could drive across I was like, right, I’m out here. I literally just donned all my stuff. Put it in my car my 15-year-old 535 M Sport BMW 2005 it is the best car I’ve ever owned. It’s like, you know, 300 horsepower, huge fat wheels. Yeah. You know, it’s reliable. It’s a great car. Yeah. I mean, I have had some problems. I mean, we can dig into them in a minute, right….
Nathaniel Schooler 05:14
But so I just put my stuff in the car, left one thing somewhere with someone and I’ve reduced my belongings to a car of stuff over the past 10 years. Because, you know, I left my wife about five years ago and I went to Spain and filled up a Jeep. I went over there for a year and literally ended up you know, basically coming back because it didn’t work out. And each time I’ve just kind of got rid of belongings and it feels really good. If there’s some sort of, I don’t know, weird thing, because it means that you look at everything that you have, and then you think well, do I really want this? Do I actually need this? And am I going to wear it? And is it necessary to keep? And it’s such a really good feeling to do that.
Steven Dickens 06:05
That reduction, that minimalism, my wife and I have this conversation, she’s a doesn’t need things person and I’m a consumption person. So it’s an interesting sort of dynamic. Talk a little bit more about kind of the thought process, have you always been like that? Is that something you’ve kind of stumbled across? Talk to me a little bit about that.
Nathaniel Schooler 06:30
I mean, I’ve owned loads of different properties over the years, I had a house, my first place when I was like, 20, I bought a house, I had like motorbikes and bicycles and yeah, loads of stuff. And I was really sentimental about everything. But now, I mean, I have a few choice belongings that I kind of, you know, I carry around with me probably just a square box.
Nathaniel Schooler 06:52
The most important belonging that I have is actually this giraffe that my daughter gave me and it’s got her name on the back. She lives with her mother, but she’s called Maya and this is the most important thing, because every time when I get somewhere and I put my computer out on the table, this has to be right next to my machine. And that is Funny, isn’t it? If 20 years ago, you said to me, oh, you’re going to be travelling around, you’re going to end up in Croatia and you’re going to be there and you’re going to put a giraffe on your table and that’s your most important possession…
Nathaniel Schooler 07:26
It’s like, the whole definition of important changes as well whilst you’re doing that, because it’s like, well, what do you need to work? Okay, so I need a podcast microphone, I need a really good computer, I need another computer in case the other computer doesn’t work and then you need your adapters and you know, so I kind of bought a toolbox right. About two weeks ago and I put all my cables and all my really cool stuff in the toolbox.
Nathaniel Schooler 07:54
So now I feel so much cleaner and so much more organized. And my sister has been organizing people professionally for like, 20 plus years. That’s what she does. And yes, that and you would not believe the amount of clutter that people have. And they don’t want it and they don’t need it. And I think it’s really great feeling every time you go and you move somewhere, you get rid of more stuff.
Steven Dickens 08:22
And that’s something I moved a bunch of times myself. That’s something, we’re due a house move. And the thing I’m looking forward to in the house move is getting rid of a bunch of stuff. So it’s interesting, this is the longest we’ve ever been in one house. And as I say, we’re overdue. So let’s kind of pick up the pace.
Let’s pick up the pace a little and give a bit of a timeline of kind of where you’ve been what you’ve done, because we’ve kept in touch the last few months, but when we spoke the other day, I was like, you’ve been here, you’ve been there you’ve been…
Nathaniel Schooler 08:57
Yeah!
Steven Dickens 08:57
So maybe just give the listeners a sort of condensed view of the kind of way you’ve been and what you’ve done. And then we’ll rip off that.
Nathaniel Schooler 09:06
But well, I mean, I literally left England on the 22nd of June put all my stuff in the car as I say, drove to the EuroTunnel, there was no traffic on the road surprise, surprise and then I ended up going on the EuroTunnel, which a lot of people don’t even know what it is, it is the longest tunnel I think underwater in the world.
Nathaniel Schooler 09:25
Apparently, it’s 23 miles, which I’ve never been on it before. And I actually screamed like a kid. When I was sitting there. There were no cars behind me. I mean, a whole carriage on my own and on a train, you’re sitting there in your car, and it goes underwater, and I was just I was screaming my head off. I was laughing because it was just such a euphoria.
Nathaniel Schooler 09:45
It was just the most exciting thing to just not have, to just not know, to know you’re going somewhere but not know what the future holds used to be really scary. It used to be the scariest thing but now I’ve just kind of embraced change, and I’ve gone well, you know, this is gonna be fun. And if it isn’t, then it’s going to be painful. And then you’re going to learn anyway. So it’s like, well, what’s the point of not doing something? If you’re frightened, you just need to do it. Yeah, I mean, that’s the thing.
Steven Dickens 10:18
That leads to my favourite quotes and I use them almost daily. I’m a huge Star Wars fan. If if we’re doing the videos, you can see the Star Wars memorabilia on the wall of the office. famous quote by Yoda, “Do or do not there is no try.” Because you see people and being in sales, getting to know is kind of a big thing for me, but you see people and they’re like: – “Oh, yeah, I’ll try and do that.”
Well, that’s just code for you’re not gonna do it. So just why I have this Yoda quote in my head, I often say: – “Well are you going to do it or not?” And then there are like: – “Well, I’ll try.” Well, I’ll try means you’re not going to do it. “So that’s fine, okay, but now I know.” And they are like “No, no, no, no, I’m gonna try and do it.”
Steven Dickens 11:06
You’re either gonna do it or you’re not gonna do it.
Steven Dickens 11:09
So I think it’s, that mindset, something that I kind of listen for and people either do things or they don’t do things. So, it’s interesting, you’ve kind of taken that philosophy and I’m either gonna do this or I’m not gonna do it and if I’m going to do it, I’m going to embrace the process.
Nathaniel Schooler 11:27
Yeah, I mean, it’s, it’s scary. The whole thing’s very scary. But so so I literally jumped on the tunnel drove across France across Belgium, and I arrived in Germany in a town called Dortmund and I booked a five star no four-star hotel. It was under £100 including breakfast. I think it was like a Mercure or something, absolutely beautiful.
Really nice people, super breakfast. And yeah, it was phenomenal. absolutely phenomenal so then I drove the next day to Berlin.
Nathaniel Schooler 11:29
It’s a long trip. I drove to Berlin, ended up having a five-star hotel for 85 pounds, including breakfast. The only difference between the four and the five star was the coffee machine in the room was exceptionally good in the five stars and they had obviously a fridge and stuff. But that was the only real difference there was not a lot, because Mercure I take my hat off to them. Just take my hat off, it is super, really super. You know.
Steven Dickens 12:38
So how do you find a hotel? I think I’ve not been anywhere in 24 weeks. As you know, I’m a road warrior in hotels all the time. I don’t know what I think about going to a hotel in a strange place for the first time.
Nathaniel Schooler 12:54
Yeah.
Steven Dickens 12:55
In the current climate, you know, turn up in Berlin. You’ve got a hotel booked. You probably booked it online a couple of days before, kind of talk to me. Just Yeah, there’s a lot of people like me who haven’t travelled in a while. What’s that? What’s the process? Like you walk into reception?
Nathaniel Schooler 13:12
No, no, it’s, it’s not about that. The first thing starts with looking on Booking.com. And it starts with comparing cleanliness results. And that is the most important thing after the price. Price first, cleanliness, location, parking, because if you’ve got a car full of everything that you own, right, your whole life is in that car. You want to make sure you’ve got good parking, and it’s gonna be safe. And there’s a certain degree of paranoia that comes with that.
Nathaniel Schooler 13:43
However, it’s a 15-year-old car, it’s not clean. It’s a bit beaten up, you know, it is what it is. So you know, I’ve been quite lucky on that front. So when you arrive at the hotel, you know, when I arrived It was quite weird.
It was surreal. I mean there were no people there, you get there and out of a hotel that’s probably got 360 rooms you’ve got one which has got 25 rooms full. When I arrived in Dortmund there were probably 25 rooms. Very few people for breakfast, I mean I took I did some videos and took some pictures and it was insane actually, it was pretty insane.
Nathaniel Schooler 14:24
The number of people out, very few people, but it was beautiful because there were no people on the road. It was super clean. You know, it was really enjoyable experience, to be honest. And it was just the peace of not having anything to think about, not having a computer in front of you and not having a phone to mess about with and not having anything except for you know, your Sat Nav, and your phone with your Sat Nav on with you know, occasional messages or calls from people. And that’s it and it’s just brilliant to clear your mind. Like that’s the beauty of driving like there’s nothing else apart from your driving.
Steven Dickens 15:08
Yeah. So one thing that was interesting you told me about this that’s in your DNA that’s in your kind of family consciousness this driving. So tell the listeners a little bit about that this kind of road trip baked into the sort of family DNA piece because I think that’s a fantastic story.
Nathaniel Schooler 15:29
It’s a good story. It’s a really good story and yeah, I think travelling is certainly in my blood. My grandfather used to spend a lot of time with his brother Conrad back in back in 1933. They basically had a vintage Lagonda and Conrad bought the vintage Lagonda. That was the first one that he bought. And then he basically bought another one and they used to do the Monte Carlo Rally.
Nathaniel Schooler 15:59
So, my cousin actually wrote a really long piece on it, because he’s still got the car and he wrote a really long piece for the Lagonda club and it’s actually a 1934 Lagonda, it was built in 33 and it’s registered in 34. And James wrote this massive long piece but I’m not going to read you the whole piece because it’s like 1500 words, but basically, it was ordered by his grandfather, Conrad Mann, who basically was really well known in the Lagonda circles.
Nathaniel Schooler 16:32
He already entered and competed in the 1931 and 32 Monte Carlo rallies in a supercharged two litre Lagonda. So this latest Lagonda that they have is actually original from 1934 when Conrad bought it and my my my grandfather used to travel with Conrad his brother and they would go on these rallies and God knows what they got up to. I mean literally, they were naughty. Yeah, like really! I have no idea what they got to but, but basically…
Steven Dickens 17:11
Boys are boys on tour, boys on tour before that was a phrase completely but I mean literally in you can only imagine a road trip across Europe in the 30s.
Nathaniel Schooler 17:24
Yeah
Steven Dickens 17:24
You know when in that well what would have been a current Lagonda back then, now’s a vintage Lagonda. Obviously, that would have been brand new then. Yeah, that’s a road trip.
Nathaniel Schooler 17:33
Oh an insane road trip. Yeah. And literally in let me see in 1936. My grandfather was driving and they basically set off from John o’Groats in this car and through the Highlands, right and basically came off the road and they got pulled out by a tractor three hours later that year. And I think they actually finished number 60th out of 72, even though they had this problem of coming off the road and everything, but the car basically sat on blocks during the war at Conrad’s farm, my great uncle’s farm. And, and then he basically used to drive this car from Tenterten all the way to the East end of London, to the brewery, which was Mann’s brewery.
Nathaniel Schooler 18:25
That was one of the largest breweries in the UK, it actually merged with Watney’s unfortunately because that was the demise of the brewery because they launched a very bad beer, unfortunately, but it was a very big brewery. It started in like 1800, I think, or 1780 roundabout.
Nathaniel Schooler 18:44
And they built that up until I don’t know the eighth largest, I think it was eventually before it before its demise. They had 2000 pubs on my mother’s side. And it was a big business you know. But the love of travelling it’s more than that. I mean, my dad, he came from America, he moved over here back in, back in what the 1960s. You know, so, and he drove around Italy in his car. And, you know, when he got married, he did that for his first wife, and, you know, so I think it’s just in my blood, like travelling is just, you know, got relatives all over the world. And it’s just like, I just love seeing new things, doing new things. It’s just a disease almost, you know, a bug. Really yeah.
Steven Dickens 19:37
So, so you’re in Berlin. So yes, so you’ve done the UK to France, through Belgium, now in Germany, the second stop in Germany, where is next?
Nathaniel Schooler 19:50
The Autobahn. Okay, which is just it was crazy.
Nathaniel Schooler 19:56
Yeah, I mean, I’ve never driven for a long period of time over 100 and something miles an hour. I mean, literally, when you get to like 120 your car behaves totally differently when you are doing that for a long period of time.
Nathaniel Schooler 20:12
It is scary because you go around these bends and like and you’re like, wow, this is 120 miles an hour and you’ve got to be so much softer on the steering, but much more definite. Yeah, this car is really good because it’s got a special type of steering. So it adjusts automatically the steering based upon the speed you’re doing. It’s built. I mean, I was like, why is this car so good? Like I didn’t realize my friend Erik sold it to me like three years ago and I didn’t realize, my respect for the five series BMW is huge now. I mean, really, you know,
Steven Dickens 20:48
A shout out to our sponsors from BMW by the way for this podcast. Of course. Nate is looking for a brand new BMW five series BMW are listening We welcome the opportunity to test drive your car for the next three years! So you’re tearing out of Berlin 120 miles an hour. On the autobahn.
Nathaniel Schooler 21:11
Oh no I did 140, I wanted to see how fast we go the course.
Steven Dickens 21:16
So you were driving fast with nowhere to go?
Nathaniel Schooler 21:20
No, I was heading to Warsaw I was heading to Warsaw and stayed in Warsaw for a while. Went all around Poland saw all sorts of amazing places like the Polish mountains Zakopane, the Polish seaside.
Nathaniel Schooler 21:37
Amazing Poland. Poland is a really fantastic place. It’s the most it’s the wealthiest country actually in central-eastern Europe as well. Because the Polish work so hard, and they really do like if they’ve got a job to do. It’s not like oh, I’ve done my eight hours for today. I’m going to start again tomorrow. It’s like they pick it up.
Nathaniel Schooler 21:58
They do the work and It’s done. Right, and it could take them 20 hours and they will do it right. And my respect for the Polish is huge. I actually my grandfather, on my dad’s side, him he actually came from but it was Poland. But it changed to Ukraine. Now it’s Ukraine, but he was from Ukraine.
Nathaniel Schooler 22:20
And he went to America in like 19. Let me see would have been 19, probably 1920, I would think maybe a little earlier. And then basically, he started, he started off working, basically lived with some relatives and he and he put himself through MIT and then once he finished MIT.
He basically started, first of all, a scrap metal company and then he turned to scrap metal company into a partition walling company, and they used to have a box at the opera, you know, my dad had a new car every Two or three years because he worked for the company and so yeah, it’s um, but I never managed to get to to to the city where he was at the time where he was born, but, but my great grandmother used to smuggle people and horses across the Russian border. She spoke like 11 languages are something ridiculous. And I mean, I have pictures of her like, you wouldn’t mess with her. Yeah, like really? She was just like really just stern.
Steven Dickens 23:29
Yeah, she was a fierce lady.
Nathaniel Schooler 23:31
Yeah, my sister said, she was called Bad Bubby. This is what my sister said. And she wouldn’t let her have a doll. She would just take the doll off her and like, give her something practical and say you don’t want that rubbish.
Nathaniel Schooler 23:41
She was just mean. Yeah, but it’s a different era. Like, you know, a totally different era, basically. And Poland is like that and it’s shaped like that. And I always wondered why Polish people like to walk around with a moody look on their faces. And it’s like well actually life is hard. Yeah, and, you know, we in the western privileged upbringings, we think that everybody has easy it’s like no, like, when you see some people and how they live like it’s really hard. Yeah. And Poland was a real eye-opener for me actually going to these different places, the Polish are lovely people, the food is incredible and that’s another love of mine I love food really!
Steven Dickens 24:25
Well, I think it’s interesting. The more I’ve travelled, the more perspective I’ve got. I’ve spent time in China. I’ve been around the world in time in Vietnam and, and places that are kind of off the beaten track.
And it gives you a perspective that you don’t get sitting in upstate New York where I am at the moment. You just think the world is like where you are. And it’s only when you do that journey and you go and discover. You go somewhere else that you realize the world isn’t like the bubble that I’ve been living in. So, I mean, you’re transposing Poland on to your experience, you know, I would say the same about Vietnam. You know, you go to those places, and it’s kinda like, this is so different to what I’m used to.
Nathaniel Schooler 25:16
Yeah.
Steven Dickens 25:17
That you, you just see it, you just, it gives you a different perspective. So, you end up in Warsaw.
Nathaniel Schooler 25:23
Yep. How? How long do you therefore well spend a bit of time I spend about what nearly two months in Poland. In the country, in the summer house as well over there. And it was fantastic. And I think the word is Jowka. Everyone has a Jowka in Poland. And it’s a bit like an allotment that we have in England except for you build a house on it or you put a caravan on it, or you do what you want with it. And that’s quite cool because everyone has one.
So it’s like a thing and it brings a family together. And I thought that was really quite nice. That’s a really nice thing the Polish have. Yeah, everyone has this little piece of land and they do what they went with it and it’s just quite cool, right. Like the way the way they have a real family-orientated thing going on.
The food is fantastic, people are fantastic. You know, but it just wasn’t for me. I’m afraid, so. So I decided what the hell am I gonna do? Like where am I gonna go?
Steven Dickens 26:18
So where’s next? Yeah, where do you go?
Nathaniel Schooler 26:21
Well, I was like, ahh, I need to go and see my buddy Charlie, because he lives in Croatia. So I was like, right, Croatia here I come, baby. And literally, put all my stuff in the car again, got rid of a little bit more stuff. And then literally just drove to Croatia. So I stopped. I went to Auschwitz on the way which put my whole life into perspective. It put everything into perspective completely.
Nathaniel Schooler 26:47
Yeah. It wasn’t the 80,000 pairs of shoes that I saw. It wasn’t it wasn’t that display of those.
It was. It was more about the poems that the survivors had written that’s what really made me tear up at the end.
Nathaniel Schooler 27:03
Because I’ve been to the killing fields in Cambodia. I’ve been to S21, the torture museum in Cambodia. I’ve stood on where the mass murders happened.
Nathaniel Schooler 27:37
Yeah.
Steven Dickens 27:38
I’ve never been, but your experiences are the same and consistent with everybody I’ve spoken to as they talk about it as that is that kind of pivotal moment that sort of brings everything into context. So you’re on the road from Auschwitz to Croatia?
Nathaniel Schooler
And you know, and it was just like, the whole thing it was just surreal like, you know, you go to the left or you go to the right if you go to the left, I think you die if you go to the right you go and work and then you die. And like, the sign above Auschwitz says, you know: – ‘Work makes you free.’ And it was just like, the way that they broke these people down. When they arrived like that. It was just, it was emotional, really emotional.
Nathaniel Schooler 27:55
I went to Bratislava, Slovakia. I get confused between Slovakia and Slovenia. But Bratislava is beautiful when you drive in. it’s mind-blowing.
Nathaniel Schooler 28:32
So I’ve got a whole load of pictures on my Instagram for that. And then I was like, right, Croatia. And then Charlie’s like: – “Right meet me here on this island. And I’m like: – “Alright, cool.” So he’s like: – “Get the ferry over and jump over and blah, blah, blah.” And he’s, he’s married to a really famous pop singer here. And like she gets like, I think she’s got like a million reach. Yeah, so she’s one of the biggest influencers in Croatia.
Nathaniel Schooler 28:59
Yeah. So People came up to me and Charlie, and they’re like: – “Can I have a picture of you?” To him. And I’m like, What? Like, it just cracked me up. Yeah, I’ve never seen that before.
Nathaniel Schooler 29:09
And I just sort of poked him and I laughed. It was hilarious because he was really embarrassed. It was just so funny. Yeah. So ended up on this island, just! Because my car was making a funny noise. And it was and it was and it was basically losing loads of power. And I was just and I called Erik because he knows everything about these cars.
Steven Dickens 29:30
So you broke it on the Autobahn is the short story!
Nathaniel Schooler 29:32
No, no, I broke it. Well yes. I think I started to break it then. And then I broke it when I arrived here. Because like speed limits. I mean, like there are no police. I mean, like, you know, you get on the toll road. Yeah, you just do 120 miles. No one cares. 120, 130 so really, nobody cares. It’s fantastic. Yeah.
Nathaniel Schooler 29:56
So I basically found this mechanic because Charlie’s girlfriend’s mother has a house somewhere around that island. So I basically found this mechanic who she had used the only mechanic on the island, super honest. Basically, he put in a new part for my car looked it over. He said, there’s something wrong with your tyre. And I was like, ‘Whoa,’ and he and he literally showed me this tire after I’d got it repaired. And it was absolutely it was shredded in the middle of it, the wall is broken in the middle of this tyre.
Nathaniel Schooler 30:27
And when you rolled it down the road it was going donk donk donk like this. And I don’t actually know when that happened. I think it was sometimes just before I got on the ferry basically to get over here. So I didn’t go fast. Yeah, but it was just like, so I got that fixed. And now my car’s running sweet. And today I’ve just been spending a little time trying to find an adapter for my webcam because it’s a USB 3.1 and not USB because I stupidly bought it without checking the configurations so.
Steven Dickens 30:59
So you are in Croatia.
Nathaniel Schooler
Yeah!
Steven Dickens 31:01
As we start to think about wrapping this up, tell us a little bit about it, you’ve given us a really great perspective. I don’t think anybody gets to do that kind of road trip, you’ve embraced COVID, and kind of what that’s done to your life and the transition. And you’ve decided, I’m just gonna get on the road, I’m gonna enjoy and embrace this experience. We’ve got a couple more minutes, give me a view of what’s been the last few months of your journey. And you think that fits in the broader context of the life journey.
Nathaniel Schooler 31:32
It’s just given me a whole new perspective and made me realize that you know, the world is a big place. If you get to do some, you just gotta get on with it. Stop being delayed by everyone else. Everyone else’s opinions of what you should do, what you shouldn’t do, how you should do this and that and everything.
Nathaniel Schooler 31:49
It’s like, you need to just go with your gut instinct, gut instinct. and determination and focus are all keys to all of this. Yeah. And just hang out with good people online offline, get rid of idiots from your life. Seriously, I’d like I’m shouting if it’s a bit louder than the rest of this, I mean because that is what affects you. These people don’t offer any value whatsoever. No encouragement, no enthusiasm. They gossip about every single thing that’s wrong in their lives. Yeah, get rid of them. Let them go and talk to people that like to wallow in self gratified depressing thoughts. Yeah, let them go say goodbye. So
Nathaniel Schooler 31:59
Yeah, so let’s, so let’s, let’s still distil this down. We’ve spent half an hour talking about this. I think the listeners will get a lot from this, from the tales from the road and the journey and just some of your funny stories, but, but also the perspective, so if you had to boil this down to three key takeaways, as we wrap up, what would they be? Just three short take on it.
Nathaniel Schooler 32:58
Trust in yourself and trusting something. I don’t know what that may be for you anyone listening? You might not believe in God, but I do.
Nathaniel Schooler 33:08
And for me, it’s like, just trust in God, trust in whatever you believe in to deliver you from hell because otherwise, you’re going to live a life that you could have lived. You’re going to lay on your deathbed, you’re gonna look back, like like that story, the Tolstoy story, the story of Ivan Ilyich. And you’re going to look back over your life and you’re going to say, “Well, whose life did I live? It wasn’t my life. It was someone else’s.” And if and if you think that you’re going to end up in that place, change your life and do it now before you waste even more years of your life, you know.
Steven Dickens 33:42
So Nate that I think.
Nathaniel Schooler
I can’t give you three things.
Steven Dickens 33:47
I think you gave me two before I asked a question.
Nathaniel Schooler 33:50
So okay.
Steven Dickens 33:50
I think I think we’re good. I think we’re good. You take the final one. So I’m gonna let you off.
Steven Dickens 33:56
I think, an interesting podcast free format, is really good to get a personal perspective on a short term journey, but also in the context and the life journey you’ve been on. And the listeners are going to really enjoy this.
Steven Dickens 34:11
I think we’re going to be recording another one of these I feel, as you go from Croatia to somewhere else. So it’s gonna be interesting in a few weeks time. I’ve got the next instalment of what I’m calling Tales from the road with Nate Schooler.
Nathaniel Schooler 34:25
But I may stay here. It’s very nice. Really,
Steven Dickens 34:29
We can change the title and call it we can call it Tales from Croatia.
Nathaniel Schooler 34:33
I don’t know. I don’t mind. I mean, at the end of the day, it’s the next instalment right still ‘tales of the road.’ Because I’ll be looking for a place to live you see, so yeah, but thank you, Steven. I think it’s been great!
Steven Dickens 34:45
Always a pleasure. Always a pleasure to record a podcast with you. Nate, I think we’ll be doing more together in the future. So maybe listeners check out for those, I think, great perspectives to them and your own personal journey. I think the listeners will have got an insight into a sort of Europe that they may be won’t have heard before.
Steven Dickens 35:03
So thank you very much for the opportunity to be a guest host this time and turn the tables.
Nathaniel Schooler 35:09
It’s really weird. Yeah. But I think, you know, also just to sort of top it off, I think the most important thing is, no matter how successful you are, there is always something that you want to go for and some goal that you want to achieve. And that’s what I’ve learned from interviewing all these successful people in the last 20 episodes, 19 episodes. They have, every single person, you know, they have obstacles, but they all move beyond them. And they, whilst they might be successful in one place. They are still searching for something else and still looking for the next thing.
Nathaniel Schooler 35:51
I think Nate, there’s no better way to wrap up the show. So thank you very much, and I’ll speak to you soon. Thanks, Steven.