Brian Keane
speaker
176 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard May 2025
last heard May 2025
Brian Keane’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
You're not a tree. If you don't like where you are, you can move.
I was a teacher doing something I didn't even like. I was like, if I was sweeping the floor in a gym, I'd be happier than I am doing what I'm doing now. So I spent the next year getting my qualifications and certifications. And when I was about to make the jump full time, one of my aunties was like, you're such an idiot. You're leaving a safe and secure job to go lift some weights in the gym.
When I released my first book, The Fitness Mindset, which spent 16 weeks on the Amazon bestseller list, that auntie messaged me and said, I always knew you'd be a success in fitness. When you give new information to people and there's more data, people change their opinion. For those who are caught in the story of, well, it's too late. I can't do that now.
The time is going to pass anyways, and you get to decide what you do. Behind every fear is a person you want to be. What's interesting is separating fear into its two categories. One...
An absolute pleasure, Lana. Thank you so much for having me.
It's an interesting backstory because I did what happens to a lot of people. You normally have family members or friends who suggest a career to you, or there's a lot of people working in that space in your family and friend circle. And you think the next logical step is, well, this is what I know. This is what I'll do. And that's exactly what happened to me.
I had a lot of family members and a lot of friends who were teachers. And the obvious path for me was, well, I may as well become a primary school teacher, an elementary school teacher. Never questioning, was this something I wanted to do? And I did a four year undergraduate degree in business. I did a postgraduate degree to become a teacher.
I went straight into my first teaching job because of the shortage of teachers in London. And Lana, I was in my first ever day of a year three classroom with 37 year old children in front of me. And I was about five, maybe 10 minutes into it when I thought, I don't want to be a teacher. It was that soon.
And the analogy that I've used on podcasts and books on my social media is that it felt like I was years climbing a ladder only to realize it was up against the wrong wall. It's a horrible feeling. Everyone, when I say that, will think of a time in their life when it's happened, a relationship, a weight loss journey, a business venture.
You know this from your history better than anybody and the guests even that you've spoken to where pivoting isn't the right word. It's a 180. It's a complete trajectory shift. But it took me, I was four years as a teacher, nearly four years. And two of those years, to cut a very long story short, was working as a personal trainer at the time in a gym and in the park in London.
And it came off the back of my first few months working as a teacher in London. And I hated my first job. I didn't want to be there. It felt very out of alignment with what I should be doing. And I came home that Christmas and my mum, who was and still is my biggest fan to this day, I was having a big sob story for myself, real victim mode. I was like, oh my God, I hate my life. I hate work.
I spend so much time, energy and money. Mom, what am I doing? I hate what I'm doing. And she said two things that I've never forgot. One was, you're not a tree. If you don't like where you are, you can move. And then she asked me, what would you do for free? And I never thought about that question. I just followed this path nearly on autopilot of a career.
And I thought to myself, what would I do for free? I was like, I'd work in a gym for free. Fitness is a massive part of my life. I played sport. I've been working out and lifting weights since I was 13 years of age. I was like, I would work at a gym for free. I was like, if I was sweeping the floor in a gym, I'd be happier than I am doing what I'm doing now.
And thankfully, the type A in me was like, right, what's after sweeping the floor in a gym? I was like, okay, fitness instructor, personal trainer, strength and conditioning coach, sports nutritionist. So I spent the next year or so getting my qualifications and certifications. And for two years, I did both.
It is. And what's so interesting about it, Alana, is a lot of people questioned it because But I was at a family wedding. I remember when I was about to make the jump full time. And one of my aunties got really drunk at the wedding and at our whole table in front of everybody was like, you're such an idiot. She was like, what are you doing?
You're leaving a safe and secure job to go lift some weights in a gym. And I sat there right now. It's different. I'm nearly 38 years of age. You have a lot more internal confidence. You've got things to back up what you've done. But at this point, I didn't know if I was going to make this work or not. And I just sat there and I kind of cowered.
And it made me think, and it was really uncomfortable because I'm like, yes, I didn't like that she said it, although it was really useful and actually really good fire and fuel on the mornings when you didn't want to get up every day. And it was actually really helpful in terms of a reframe.
Yes, that's a very hot burning coal, you know, the old adage that fire can light up your house, but it can burn it down. So you need to be very, very careful what you attach your energy to. But I also thought there and then, while she's the only one that's actually said it, other people are thinking this. And that was a really uncomfortable change.
And thankfully, my mom at the time, still my anchor, my rock, she's so supportive and was like, look, just go and be happy. She always told me and my sister, if you're cleaning the street and you're happy, I don't care what you do. And I kept that as an anchor because it was weird. I started making more money as a personal trainer part time than I was making full time as a teacher.
So that should have been enough proof that there was something to this. And it also, for me, still to this day, I couldn't believe people were paying me to take them through personal training sessions in the gym. I don't do in-person personal training anymore, but even working with people in fitness, whereas you had to pay me to go to school. I knew on Friday it was the weekend.
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