About Ed Ley
Who Am I Behind The business?
New clients often tell me that what initially drew them to my work was the neuroscience behind it.
Others say they appreciate that I come from a background of working with the body and don’t see it as separate from the mind.
That’s a useful entry point into understanding me.
I’ve always struggled with superficiality, pointlessness and meaninglessness.
What this meant for me in school was that I rarely saw the point in what we were learning. As a result, I often struggled to find the motivation to do the work to the best of my ability.
Outside of school I had no trouble finding obsession.
Particularly in areas that produced practical, real world results.
It wasn’t until I finished university that I finally felt free to let curiosity guide me towards learning and obsession.
It was like everything fell into place for me.
I would wake up early and go to work. Treating injuries at one end of town. Driving somewhere else to help doctors’ patients build healthier habits. Then heading to a gym to train and rehabilitate athletes and business leaders. In between, I was studying, researching and testing ideas on myself and colleagues. Each day in a different place working with a different team or type of client.
Weekends I would work pitch side with pro and amateur sports teams.My whole life became about refining, practising and learning what was missing or made no sense to pull all of these ideas together into a universal framework.
It was then that I realised motivation had never been the problem.
The same tendency for total immersion had always been there.
I saw it when I set up a soccer school, a car washing business and became fascinated with learning, improvement and mastering skills.
Looking back, I can see patterns that helped shape the principles I live by today.
Everyone has potential. Nobody has reached it.
I try to treat people as if that’s true, including myself.
When we uncover, explore and deeply understand our own personal ‘magic’, we can build our lives from a place of certainty rather than imitation.
The more I commit to that process, the more curiosity, clarity and confidence I experience.
The more curiosity, clarity and confidence I experience, the less I feel the need to force things.
For me, a big part of that ‘magic’ is holistic thinking.
Every session I run has to be backed by my beliefs, philosophy and principles.
Every part of it, from the questions I ask, to the order I ask them, to the programme as a whole.
That doesn’t rule out creativity in the moment. In fact, it makes it more likely, in the same way that the rules of a sport create the conditions for creativity and possibility.
My brain naturally ties things together.
A flow state for me looks like seeing connections between seemingly unrelated things and helping bring them together into something meaningful.
That might be a breakthrough moment in a session. It might be a comedy moment with friends.
People often mistake me for being very disciplined.
I train every day, read and study, fast regularly, show up consistently and I’m often described as grounded.
I’m not disciplined though.
I struggle with making myself do things I don’t feel like doing as much as the next person.
These days I use freedom as my guide in those situations rather than force.
My consistency emerges out of meaning.
Where there is inconsistency I see disconnect between action and meaning where I once saw weakness or lack of will.
Understanding this has shaped both my life and my work more than any other insight.
My values are truth, beauty and play.
Two of those sound frivolous, I know. I think that’s partly why we dismiss them so quickly and miss their power.
Beauty, to me, represents the connection between all things.
Like anyone else, I can become frustrated, withdrawn or defensive when life gets difficult.
Beauty reminds me that there is always a bigger picture than the one I’m currently seeing. It helps me find a path forward when I would otherwise default to anger or retreat into myself.
Play, like love and presence, is one of the purest expressions of freedom, creativity and a person thriving.
I strive to bring people into their own play while remaining connected to it myself.
I see it in humour, laughter and the co-creation that happens with clients.
When I start showing up with seriousness and judgement, I’m usually most out of alignment with who I want to be.
Knowing that helps me recalibrate quickly without feeling lost, confused or angry for long.
Truth is about finding the data and losing the drama.
Drama is the assumptions, prediction errors, stories and secrets that prevent us from showing up as all that we are.
The more I do this work, the more meaningfully I engage with life and its challenges.
What I’m most proud of is that I’ve built my work in a way that helps clients discover their own principles, values and gifts rather than simply adopting mine.
What becomes possible when you stop trying to be who you think you should be and start building your life around who you actually are?
