80. Using your voice to inspire

You might know Jake Harrison as one half of Jake & Elle in the hit reality TV show My Kitchen Rules. I know him better as one of my fave InspireCycle instructors. In this episode, Jake and I chat about how he prepares his voice, energy and material to inspire the hell out of a cycle class as well as how he stayed positive while filming a high rating reality TV show and all the pressure and judgement that comes with that.

Follow Jake on instagram @whatsnextjake

Transcript

Hello, hello! I'm Sal. If you are here listening to the podcast for the first time, a big welcome. If you're a long time listener, welcome back. It's always great to have you with me. We are up to Episode 80. Wow. And I have such a special guest on the podcast this week. For a bit of context, if you follow me on Instagram @sallyprosser voice, you'll notice that I like going to InspireCycle, which is a spin class like no other. It's dark. There's special effects lighting. The music is pumping. There are crazy arm movements. And even though I'm not particularly good at it, I really like going. It gets the heart rate up. It gets me away from my phone and it's not called InspireCycle for nothing. The instructors are so inspiring. This isn't a sponsored podcast, by the way. I could actually do a whole spinoff series just interviewing the amazing Inspire instructors.

Today, I'm chatting to Jake Harrison, who's an incredible Inspire instructor. One class, he had all of us singing Robbie Williams' "Angels" while riding. What a moment you might've seen me talk about it on one of my reels. You might also recognize Jake from My Kitchen Rules, which is a reality cooking show here in Australia. He's one half of Jake and Elle, who actually won the MKR series called “The Rivals”. Amazing! He's also been a professional ballet dancer. So in this episode, Jake and I chat about how he prepares his voice, energy and material to inspire the hell out of a cycle class, as well as how he managed anxiety and stayed positive during filming a very high-rating reality TV show. And you can just imagine all the pressure and judgment that comes with that.

But, first. Are you sick of getting nervous before speaking tired of saying "uhms" and "ahs" and tripping over your words, frustrated your voice sounds weak or boring? Imagine being able to confidently speak when called on. Hitting record and not doing 100 takes. Captivating an audience with your voice... Sounds great, right? Then join My Six Week Voice Makeover! Over six weeks we dive into the fundamental steps you need to make an impact every time you speak. How to hack your mindset, how to tap into your body, control your breathing. Literally speak from your heart, form your words and phrases clearly, and top it all off with beautiful expression! To make it happen, join My Six Week Voice Makeover by heading to my website, sallyprosser.com.au or just click the link in the show notes. Look forward to seeing you there!

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Okay. Now, it's time for Jake. I really hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did making it. Grab your journal, grab a pen because Jake shares a whole lot of quote-worthy advice that you'll want to write down.

Sally:

Jake Harrison, welcome to That Voice Podcast. It is so exciting to have you on the show.

Jake:

Thank you so much for having me, Sally. It's so good to see you.

Sally:

Yes. And a little bit less sweaty than earlier this morning.

Jake:

No, it's actually quite nice to join together when we're not in a fitness sense, which is great.

Sally:

Absolutely. So let me set the scene. You've got a dark room, a bunch of people on bikes, and everyone's there for a workout. There's a big gap between, you know, the people that go there every single day, right down to people who might be walking in there for their very first class, wondering what the hell is going on. And you've got to walk in there, no matter how you're feeling and bring like a 20 out of 10 energy. How do you do it?

Jake:

Oh, good question. Look, it's just one of those things. I think I've been a performer all my life. I've been a professional ballet dancer and I've studied that all of my life. And then I went, did a Bachelor of Fine Arts at QT and I traveled the world, and everything. So I think, the stage is not foreign for me. And so I do love and feed off that particular vibe in the room. But yeah, you just go and you just like, zero fucks just give zero fucks. I think it's the practice of giving those zero fucks where you just walk in and you're just like, we're going to have a great time. And I don't care if it looks silly, professional, you know, just give it all you got and have a bit of fun with it. And I think sometimes we lose a little bit of fun in our lives, and we get caught up in all the, well, what happens if someone thinks I'm too much or too little, and sometimes you just kind of got to shrug your shoulders and just go. You know what, who cares? I think that's how you kind of walk into it.

Sally:

Yeah, for sure. So, I work with lots of people in public speaking situations that they'll often say, "Oh, I feed the crowd." And I feel like Inspire's kind of similar. So you've got a situation where the crowd's like, "Wooh, wooh!". And they're into it. And you're getting the energy and you're being fed by it. And it's great. But there are times when no, one's really responding to your jokes are falling flat from like a speaking perspective. So what do you channel to just keep going when you're like, "Oh God, like this is like drawing blood from a stone"?

Jake:

Absolutely. And I think unlike public speaking where if it falls quiet, it is kind of crickets. But with Inspire or with group fitness training, at least you have the music have the beat, you have the rhythm. That is kind of giving you a little bit of a safety net, you know? Cause, if something doesn't land or if you're like, "Come on team, how are you today?" And everyone's like, "Yay." At least, you've got the music behind you to be a little bit. It can kind of protect you a little bit. At the same time, I think you kind of have to get people out of their own shells. Because if they're not vibing, they might be a bit shy, or they might be like, "Oh no, I don't really want to scream or yell" or. So sometimes, it's good to like to do it a couple of times and just like, "Come on guys!" Like, "Just get it done." Like, "Come on, let me know how you really feel!" Just prompt them a couple of times, you know, to really kind of make them feel comfortable because maybe they're feeling a little bit more out of the comfort zone or feeling a bit silly. So I think sometimes it's really good to just kind of, you know, repeat it, ask them again.

Sally:

Yeah. Before you do a class in the same way as before you go on stage, do you have a bit of a preparation ritual that you go through?

Jake:

It's funny you ask that, because I didn't notice it last week and it's like, and I do everything the exact same step by step. I walk in, lights on. I turn on the candles, I put my laptop up there, I plug it in. Everything is exactly the same. And then I go through each of my songs. Song one, check it. Song two, three, and so on all the way down to the, to the finishing track. And I just kind of go through, "Okay, I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that." It's like a little checklist. And then I feel a little bit more competent in delivering it because I've just kind of given it a bit more of a run through. I don't necessarily sit there and like meditate or anything along those lines, but before a big theme ride, cause you know, that InspireCycle does their theme rides or it might've been like the Mardi Gras ride. And sometimes when you have a little bit more of an expectation put upon yourself to deliver something extraordinary or you've got a packed out 50-50 ride. Or there's a wait list, or I do tend to play the music and I stand there just in the darkness, and I just close my eyes. And I just take a little bit of a breath, and just calm it down, and just allow a little bit of calm before the storm. And I feel that 30 to one minute really helps to align yourself. It just gets my excitement. Cause I'm, I'm a bit of a monkey. I just love it. I'm like, "Oh my God, yeah, amazing!". And then I put this pressure on myself. "I've got to deliver, got to deliver." And then it's actually so beautiful when you just...

I remember once when we were doing the Mardi Gras ride quite recently. It had Lululemon involved. I had drag Queens. I had, you know, members of the community, key stakeholders come into this ride and a lot of first-timers. And I just played like Donna Summers, and I just actually just walked around the empty room and just took a moment just to breathe and just go, "I've got this, it's all going to be all good. Let's just open this door and let's do what I do best.", You know? And it just centered yourself a little bit. I think taking that time out is really important.

Sally:

Oh, Jake, I love that so much. I love that you share it because I think, I know because people tell me they see people like you who are just so confident and so slaying it all the time. Some people might think that you just are like that and you turn up and with no preparation, you're good to go. So it's really good to reiterate by saying, look, the episodes, that everybody has a bit of a process to get to that point.

Jake:

Yeah.

Sally:

So my next question is about your material, because. You know, I love all the instructors at Inspire, but you in particular have such a way with words to inspire us.

Jake:

Oh, thank you!

Sally:

So, do you like have like a whole, I don't know, a bunch of saved memes? Or I don't know, how do you come up with this stuff?

Jake:

I think it's a lot to do within the moment. It's a lot to do within the moment, but it's also like I have a genuine passion and a genuine appreciation for every single person in that room. Like that they're showing up and they're putting in the maximum effort that they can. I deep down believe it's my mission to pull your best out. And I just, I have a pet hate when the instructor is like, "Come on, you can do this!" Like, "Get up." And I'm just like, there's something more deeper that we can talk about with this. So, I do watch like a lot of like a lot of inspirational videos, either on Instagram reels or something along those lines. Like I do dive deep into that and I do find and target my particular people that I love so much and I follow them and I just get inspiration from them and bring that into my practice.

Jake:

And I think to inspire, you have to be inspired. So I think you really have to find your people. And that is a real big, important thing because a lot of people come and go, "Oh, I don't like cardio." Well then don't do it." Or "I don't like spinning." Well then, don't do it." Or "I don't like lifting weights." Well then, don't do it. You know, like it's, you've got to find what language speaks to you. It's the same thing with finding inspiration. That's why I try and vary mine quite a lot. Like I go into that whole meditative, you know, spiritual side of things, but then I do a little bit of that military army kind of like "Get up, get the fuck up now!" You know, because people respond differently. And you literally go to a room full of people that might be different. So I think finding who and what inspires you and really studying that and understanding why that touches you and that will get you moving.

Sally:

For sure. And to inspire you have to be inspired. And that's why it's so important in anything you do. And especially when you're speaking and sharing a message, you have to connect with that message first. And so much, I put out a lot of inspirational content as well about confidence and self-love and everything I put out is stuff that resonates with me and on my daily life.

Jake:

Yeah. It's authentic to you and that's, and that's believable, soon as you can see in someone's eyes like, "Oh, that just don't look authentic." That doesn't speak you. Then people lose trust and then they just don't and then you lose that connection. But like you do, you're very authentic to who you are. So that's why you got connection.

Sally:

Oh, Jake, I love that because I do get some feedback saying, "Oh, you're so fake, and you always put on a fake voice!" And I'm like, "Oh no. That's like the worst insult that I can get."

Jake:

Motivation, and inspiration is very vulnerable and it's very confronting. And I think that's why people get their, not necessarily their backup, but when you're, when you're telling someone, "I want the best from you, I want the best out of you." It's very confronting to some people and then they can turn around and go, "Oh well, that's fake." Or that, you know, they can get really defensive and it's very vulnerable. So you have to be like, "You know what? Like I'm deadly serious. Like you've got this within you. And I believe in you, so let's do this together." I think that's where like, cause I get some of those comments as well where it's a bit like, "Oh, you seem like this is a little bit too much for me" or "Wow. You really dive deep!" Because that's where the good stuff is.

Sally:

Yeah. It's whenever anything's triggering, it's usually telling you something about yourself, isn't it?

Jake:

Absolutely.

Sally:

Yeah. So what about the physical voice? Because that's another hard thing while you're doing a high intensity cardio workout, but being able to produce that quality of voice, it's incredible!

Jake:

Yeah. Well I think, well, practice makes better, as my ballet teacher what used to say, because perfect is unattainable. And I think it is, it's just practice. It's just a lot of diaphragm work and you know, we'll have that, like a lot of it sinks right down into my belly. I don't lift my shoulders up. It's not a shallow breath. It's quite strong and then use the abdomen. And as you breathe out, it's all about timing. So I'm breathing out as I'm speaking. So as I breathe in, obviously we can't speak while we breathe in. But using that diaphragm in pushing out the words and to use an, also like a breath out. And that also gives you that strong tone as well. So I think it's just like a lot of core strength.

Sally:

Yeah. Love that. Anyone listening who's done My Six Week Voice Makeover, am I bringing back memories of Week 3? This is what we talk about! Yeah. So good. And the more fit you are physically, the better your voice is going to be.

Jake:

Do cardiovascular strength, you know, like in cardiovascular, strength is hard. It's hard work. There's no way around it.

Sally:

Nice. So we've talked about your, you've done a lot of dancing all around the world. And we talked about channeling that performance mode, I guess when you jump on the stage with Inspire. Did you also take when you were on reality TV? So I think most people would know you from MKR.

Jake:

Yes.

Sally:

You've won The Rivals, congratulations! That must have been such a huge thrill.

Jake:

Thank you so much. Such an incredible achievement. And I think it's something that my sister and I really wanted to tick off. And in reality TV, you really do need to have the thickest skin possibly known to man. It's anxiety central. There were moments where I was like, you know, hugging the bowl of the toilet, you know, wanting to just vomit because you're just so nervous. And it's not necessarily doubt, it's more the anxiety of failure, it's just more on national television. So not only do you feel like you fail in like, maybe your own friends circle, but it's like broadcasted onto the world. And I think that's where it kind of gets you really, really in the gut.

Sally:

Yeah. So how did you get through those moments?

Jake:

Monuments, by Robin. You know, Robin, the artist? She has this one song and it goes through at eight minutes long.

Relating emotion to music is so helpful when it comes to anxiety. And understanding that you can listen to it and I could listen to it to this day. And I'll take me back to the hotel room just before we left for the grand final. And I just jumped around the room and I just told myself that I've got it and repeating that positivity language, repeating it and not letting the internal saboteur takeover. And just repeating, "I've got this, I've got this, it's going to be good. It's going to be good. I've got this!" Putting a track on, and just dancing and just living the positive outcome because it's not all always has to be disastrous. There's another side of the story. That's another side of the coin. It doesn't always lead to ourself, all about what happens if this went wrong, but what happens if it went right?

Jake:

Because that's still a possibility, in fact, it's just the same of it going wrong. But for some reason, the wrong side of it always seems to consume us. So I think, I like to relate emotion to music. It elevates your mood to therefore you're in a bit more of an accepting space to portray your positivity.

Sally:

Yeah, for sure. I went to an all girls Catholic school and we put on Romeo and Juliet. And I was Romeo! Pretty funny. I mean, the ticket sells out because people just wanted to come and see two girls who are going to kiss. So it was pretty awful, really. So when I was preparing for that, I made a whole playlist, and each song corresponded with a different emotion of the character. So I'm totally on board with that. And now, when I really need to get pumped up, I'm like Dolly Parton, 9 to 5. Really believe that moving and channeling music helps. I'm sure like you would have been better placed than most having had that performance experience. Like people who've had no media experience, no stage. It must have been really hard to go into reality TV.

Jake:

I completely agree with you in, in that sense, but it's like a lot of the other teams did struggle when they were, you know, turning their backs towards the camera or they were not cooking and not showing what they were doing in the pan. You know, I already had those types of things so that those teams had to repeat stuff where we could just carry on and cook. So it was less frustrating. Correct. But at the same time, it was kind of like when the anxiety gets the grip and gets hold of you, you really are in a bit of advice. So you really do need to get out of that because I can shut down quite, quite easily.

Sally:

Yeah. And I guess, you know, we do see a fair bit of emotion on reality TV. And it's no wonder, like, with that level of pressure and that level of anxiety, of course, it's going to be coming out.

Jake:

Yeah. And a lot of people are like, "Oh, all the television show's scripted." Is it this, that, and the other? It's this buildup of emotion. Haven't seen your family, everyone's throwing questions at you. People are trying to create storylines. You're trying to divert the storylines. You don't know how Australia's going to perceive you, because the episodes aren't out yet. So there's a lot, there's a lot building up. So that's why people do tend to explode probably a little bit more dramatically than they normally would.

Sally:

Yeah. And it must be nice having your sister there with you and having so much love from Australia. Like on your social media, and you know, I think you're extremely well liked. There's so much support, but whenever, as you know, anyone's doing anything big or putting themselves out there. Haters gonna hate, right? How did you deal with the negative comments that were coming in?

Jake:

I tackle this differently to my sister. My sister tends to read everything and read all the comments. And she reads all of them and does everything. And that's her thing. And that's fine. I think she can handle that herself. She just wants to know, I'm how the hand don't want an arm? Cause I don't really care because I'm like, if you're talking about me in a good or a bad way, well then at least you're talking about me, right? So like I just tend to not look really, you know, I just kind of just ignore it. But I mean, growing up gay, doing ballet, you know, doing all these girly stuff and everything. I've had my, you know, I've had my fair share of, you know, knocks and blows. So over the years you've developed a really quite thick skin. So it goes, it goes back to giving zero fucks. As long as you're happy with what you're doing, then you don't need validation from anyone or anything.

Sally:

Yeah. And that's incredibly freeing, isn't it? When you really can give zero fucks, you can just do what you want to do. Say what you want to say.

Jake:

Yeah. And understand you. Like you've got to understand, "Am I emotionally capable to take on board this negativity?" If the answer is no, well then don't look at it. If you're like, "You know what? I want to know what people think about me." or like, "I want to understand myself better." Or "I want to read it and I am emotionally okay to take this.", then dive into it. And if you read it and you start getting upset, well then not emotionally capable to understand that or to take that because if you're getting fiery, and if you're pushing them back with bad comments, it just puts fuel on the fire. So then you're just, like, you're doing yourself more of a disjustice then, then you just, by letting it go, you know? Maybe you spent all the time worrying about what other people thought of you think about spending all that time on developing and growing you. And think about how much further you could achieve. And you can feel better. You can look better. All of that time spent worrying, you could spend time on you. And that's just what you've got to boil it down to.

Sally:

Amen. So well said. Jake, how can people contact you if they want to send you a message about how amazing this episode was?

Jake:

Oh, I know I love this. This is the part we can sit until forever. I'm heavily on Instagram, of course, Instagram @whatsnextjake. I got braces in recently, and it's a really hard for me to communicate. This is a good learning curve. Like my pronunciation has gotten a lot better. You'll be very proud of me now. My annunciation is like, really proper.

Sally:

I respect you. I'm wearing a line, and it's just at night, and I'm wearing them at just at night because I can't speak.

Jake:

So doing speaking classes with braces, it's like, and pronouncing F's is really hard. So, "What's next, Jake?" on Instagram is, this is what I wanted to say.

Sally:

Amazing. Well, Jake, you've shared so much great advice. Around getting into the right energy zone, around inspiring other people, and dealing with judgment. Was there anything else you wanted to add?

Jake:

I just want to really reiterate that confidence is a practice. Just like yoga, it's a practice. Being authentic self is the end result of a practice. People don't just wake up and be like, "Today I'm going to be my authentic self." People always focus on the end result, but they forget the pathway. So always think like, "How am I authentic? How am I authentic?" You feel authentic when you put on that piece of clothing and go, "Oh God, this is good!" You listen to that song, you're like, "This is my tune." You search for the motivational people and you're just like, "That's living authentically". That's finding out what you love and what you do and what brings you joy. That's finding it. And that's a practice. It's going to be great in a week, in a month, in a year, especially with confidence in everything that you, people just think you're born with it or you're born without it. No, no, no, no. Everyone's got it. You've got to practice it. And it's scary, and it's, you're going to doubt yourself, but sit in that doubt. Understand that doubt and be like, "I am really scared right now, but I'm going to do it." Just say that to yourself. "I'm actually really anxious right now, but I'm going to do it." And at least you identify how you feel and then you can move on.

Sally:

Feel the fear and do it anyway.

Jake:

Absolutely!

Sally:

Jake, thank you so much for joining That Voice Podcast!

Jake:

Not a problem, Sally. Thank you so much. It's been a great time!

Sally:

Yay!

Sally Prosser