Mindful Movement: How Mobility Work Can Transform Your Life | Scott Perkins

Michael Gervais (0:00)

What do you see as the future of mobility work?

Scott Perkins (0:04)

Our goal is to create the future mobility. It's not always just for athletic performance. It's grandma that wants to be able to pick up her grandkids at 65 It's the mom that wants to make sure she can run the stroller around the block. The concept of movement is intrinsic to just being human. What we look to do is enable that.

Michael Gervais (0:25)

Welcome back or welcome to the Finding Mastery podcast. I am your host, Dr. Michael Gervais by trade and training a high-performance psychologist. No matter how you move your body, movement is an essential part of being human and being able to move well for as long as possible, I believe, is a staple of living the good life. That's why I'm excited to introduce a guest today who has committed to helping people do just that, Scott Perkins.

Scott is the founder and CEO of Pliability, a company that is helping people move better through their yin yoga-inspired mobility training. You'll hear in this conversation how much time I spend daily on mobility training. That's one of the reasons I wanted to have a conversation with Scott. The deeper reason I wanted to have this conversation is because he's one of those folks who look for a solution out in the world. He didn't find it. He didn't find one that he thought was ideal, at least, and then he went ahead and built it. And it makes perfect sense why he took that step. His path is different. He's got a different approach to life. At age 12, he was taking college classes to start his first business at age 18 and acquiring Pliability, the company we're going to talk about, by the age of 25 However, for the first six years at its helm, Scott was 60 pounds overweight and sacrificing his health for what he thought was success.

That's when he made a change. In this conversation, you'll hear from a person who was grinding, who was getting after it, not recovering, who was burnt out and overwhelmed.

He found a better way. And now he's on a mission to share it with others. I love what Scott and the team at Pliability are building. And I can't wait for you to hear the story of a founder whose windy path of grinding eventually led him to working from a place of meaning and purpose. So with that, let's jump right into this week's conversation with Scott Perkins.

Scott, welcome to the Mastery Lab.

Scott Perkins (2:24)

Thanks for having me.

Michael Gervais (2:25)

I'm so stoked you're here. Like what you're doing is really amazing. Like it's so well timed.

And before we get into the mechanics of it, let me just start properly. Like how are you?

Scott Perkins (2:38)

I'm doing well. Doing well. It was a good trip out, glad to be here in LA.

Michael Gervais (2:42)

Yeah. And when you say you're doing well, what does that mean for you?

Scott Perkins (2:45)

Just overall. I mean, life is great.

Business is on a good trajectory. Life's on a good trajectory. Feeling really settled where I'm at in New York. Just finally feel like this year is coming together.

Michael Gervais (2:59)

There was an exhale when you said that.

Scott Perkins (3:01)

Yeah, for sure.

Michael Gervais (3:02)

So you've been grinding for a long time.

Scott Perkins (3:05)

Yeah, definitely.

Michael Gervais (3:06)

And it feels like some pieces have dropped into place where the momentum feels a little bit more seamless.

Scott Perkins (3:11)

Absolutely. I think one of my biggest lessons is just really trusting a team and growing a team. And we spent years running so lean that there's a lot of my shoulders and I had trouble letting go. And then when I finally learned to let go a little bit, life got incrementally easier and easier and just more fulfilling and started enjoying what I was doing more.

And all that's really coming together this year.

Michael Gervais (3:37)

You say that to a performance psychologist and you know that I'm going to pull on that thread. Okay, so let's get to that in due time.

But as I say that, what happens for you in this moment? What happens for you when I say, oh, control. Okay, we're going to come back to that. Do you go, oh, good.

Scott Perkins (3:55)

Or do you go, oh, no, not scared of it at all. I think I've been down the road so many different ways that I enjoy exploring that because for me, it was a big learning experience.

Michael Gervais (4:08)