During an AFL Football career littered with individual and team success, fame and a $7 million fortune - Tom Boyd went through the most difficult time of his life. Suffering severe insomnia, depression and anxiety, Tom was forced into retirement at just 22.
This was the beginning of a new perspective, one where traditional measures of success like money and fame no longer drove him.
After years of struggling, Tom leveraged the skills and strategies that helped him cope to turn his life around. Tom left the AFL (and a $2 million contract) behind to change the course of his life.
Now a passionate mental health advocate, father, author, ambassador and speaker - Tom is passionate about sharing his story with audiences all over the country - in a bid to shift the traditional mindset and stigma associated with mental health.
Talking Points
The Building Blocks of Mental Health & Resilience: How to Move from Surviving to Thriving
During an AFL Football career littered with individual and team success, fame and a $7 million fortune - Tom went through the most difficult time of his life at 22 years old. Suffering severe insomnia, depression and anxiety that forced him to the sidelines.The Building Blocks of Mental Health & Resilience: How to Move from Surviving to Thriving
This was the start of a new perspective, one that meant the traditional measures of success no longer motivated him.
In this keynote, Tom shares the tools and strategies he used to overcome the biggest challenges of his life, how to proactively manage your mental health, and how to turn your struggles into strengths.
Key Takeaways:
How to develop resilience through proactively looking after your mental health.
Managing stress during high performance.
Sustainable High Performance: How to Play the Long Game, Avoiding the Pitfalls of High Achievers
In this keynote, Tom shares key strategies to achieving sustainable High Performance, for individuals and for teams. Sustainable High Performance: How to Play the Long Game, Avoiding the Pitfalls of High Achievers
From his experience working at the pinnacle of elite sport in Australia, Tom shares the common traps and pitfalls of high performers that lead to burnout.
He also shares his framework for sustainable high performance unpacking how to plan for success, leverage others' wisdom, and build high performance habits.
Key Takeaways: Tips and processes that individuals and teams can utilize to achieve long term high performance, push themself to constantly improve and ensure success is a long term possibility.
Modern Day Leadership: Using Authenticity and Vulnerability to Motivate
Connecting and motivating people has never been more challenging, with expectations on leaders higher than ever. Facing challenges including rising workplace stress, generational changes, and shifting priorities and requirements - it is more important than ever that leaders are capable of managing their own stress.Modern Day Leadership: Using Authenticity and Vulnerability to Motivate
In this keynote, Tom shares his experiences in elite teams, the do’s and don'ts of great leaders - and how leaders can use storytelling to engage with their teams.
Key Takeaways: This session is a fantastic way to help leaders understand how to connect totheir changing workforce - shifting the mindset of traditional leadership - to one that is purpose fit to enable the modern day workforce to exceed.
Video
Last Time I Cried: 'I didn't know what was going to happen next' | Tom Boyd
Bulldogs premiership hero Tom Boyd talks to Hamish McLachlan about the moment he hit rock bottom in 2017.The Tom Boyd Story | Saxton Speakers
Recently retired Bulldog Tom Boyd opens up about the physical and mental toll of his AFL career, in a wide-ranging podcast with Club great Bob Murphy.Open Mike with Tom Boyd | Saxton Speakers
Tom Boyd was the country’s best young talent coming through the junior ranks, which had many in the public believe he could single-handedly change the fortunes and success of his club for many years to come. This was a lot for a young man who had just finished his Year 12 studies to carry. Selected with pick one of the 2013 AFL Draft, by the GWS Giants, who were in the infancy of their existence, Tom realised at a very early stage of his days in the AFL that this career may not be what he had hoped. For more than two years since publicly addressing his struggles with mental health and retiring from the AFL, Tom has shared his story in hope of shifting the conversation and having a positive impact on people’s lives.One can debate that the private school environment is comparable to an elite sporting environment with the day to day demands and pressure associated with performance. This is the reason why ... keep reading Haileybury College
Tom’s story was both fascinating and intriguing. To hear about the issues Tom faced and how he dealt with them was a real eye opener. With everything that is going on in the world and how busy we get it is very easy to get caught in a rut. Tom’s story really highlighted the fact that by recognising key aspects of our life we can control our situation. Toms honesty and willingness to share his journey and openly answer the questions was greatly appreciated. It was real lesson in resilience, taking control and taking care of yourself. Thanks Tom it was a great insight.
On RU OK Day, Tom presented via a National Webex to over 250 Partners and staff with deep insight and maturity. He spoke about the challenges of mental health issues, and his own challenging journey. His observations from the world of high-performance professional sport were highly relevant to our corporate world in professional & legal services. Tom was candid demonstrating an acute awareness that the solution for each individual may be different. He is a considered voice, speaking about important issues, at an important time.
Tom, thank you for sharing your story, learnings and advice on mental health, wellbeing and resilience with our team at Coca-Cola Amatil ahead of R U Ok? day. We have a wonderfully diverse team here and our safety motto is get home to what you love'. You engaged with every member of the team in a professional, thoughtful and approachable way and helped us to make mental health more visible. You could have presented as an AFL football star, but you offered so much more.
Tom Boyd presented to our team of approx. 65 staff and we were all impressed with how open he was about such a personal and difficult topic. Tom had our attention for the full length of his talk and didn’t discredit any clubs or players in the process. I liked that he shared some of the ways he tried to overcome it and can see what an awesome role model he would be for young people going through similar situations. Fantastic presentation and speaker and would highly recommend having Tom present to your team.
