Legally On The Move: The Lawyers Retreat is Back in Ibiza 2026 – Ryan Hopkins – E02

You can hear Rob and Ryan discussing:

Connect with Ryan Hopkins here: 

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/theryanhopkins

Transcript

Welcome to Legally on the Move, the Lawyers Retreat Ibiza 2026, a special legally speaking podcast mini series sponsored by Clio. We’re back here in Ibiza as the official media partner for the Lawyers Retreat. And if last year taught me anything, it’s this, when you get the right people in the right environment, good conversations quickly turn into real opportunities.

Across this series, we’ll be bringing you voices, ideas and honest reflections from a retreat built around leadership, wellbeing, AI, growth, business development and the future of law. So whether we’re poolside, post panel or catching up in between sessions, expect practical insights, fresh thinking and conversations that go beyond the surface. So let’s get into it.

Welcome to the Legally Speaking podcast, recording live here in Ibiza for the Lawyers’ Retreat. And I’m joined by, name, title and organisation please. It’s actually Ryan. Ryan Hopkins, author, speaker and CEO of Healthy. Absolutely, and a fantastic speaker at that. So firstly, what brought you to Lawyers’ Retreat? What brought me here? Well, Kirsty actually came to my, Kirsty, one of the organisers of the event, he’s done an unbelievable job with Kate.

first they have to say like next level right yeah she came to my book launch a couple of years two and a bit years ago and it was an amazing event since then it’s just grown arms and legs it’s going live in Uzbek as I shared with everyone not where I was expecting to be going hopefully a trip to Tashkent on the agenda but she said we’re running this event we’re looking for speakers would you come and do something I was absolutely I would love to you get asked to do something like this you have to do it right

and they have got their money’s worth. They’ve got me running around with them, multiple sessions with doing this and I love it. Good people, good vibes. Everyone here wanting to like develop their business, but also work on their inner game as well. And that’s what it’s all about. Absolutely. And I’ve loved your talks and your engagement with the community here generally, but for our audience, could you just tell us a little bit about your journey and what brought you to the work that you do today? Yeah, we better be quick. Not like we did earlier, right?

I really care about this. struggled a lot growing up as a lot of us have. No one gets into this game not having been through it. And I really, really care about it. I previously set up and led Deloitte’s wellbeing consulting business, taking that thinking around the world, built the strategic wellbeing business at Bupa as well, led at Jack. And this thinking has just evolved and evolved. And the wellbeing space is either so woo woo that engages no one, or it’s incredibly clinical and dry.

And often it’s very difficult to engage the normal person, the busy person, help them understand what it means. And that’s because we conflated wellness and wellbeing. As we were just saying, wellness is the pursuit of optimal health. That can be a hot stone massage. The wellness industry is worth $9.2 trillion, but we’ve never been worse off from a wellbeing perspective. And for me, wellbeing is essentially is one subjective satisfaction with their life. And that’s completely unique. And these are practical things that we can do every single day. And it’s been over complicated within an inch of its life. And what I intend to do…

is make it so, so simple and help people understand it’s about understanding yourself, creating quality time, focusing on the little things of regularity. Job done. Now you don’t need a 12 week course. Yeah. Love it. And what I loved about your talk as well as you gave such practical tactical advice, which we’re all about on the show. So two things that I want you to talk about and to give a bit more context. Let’s start firstly with the spotlight theory. So I really like.

Yeah, I love it. Especially when we’re talking, you do a lot of this, right? I imagine you were never quite… You weren’t quite as confident as you are now. I mean, not the Rob Haller that’s standing in front of us today. And nor was I once. And that’s because we all believe we’re the star of the show. I always like to compare us to Taylor Swift. Yes, Rob’s doing a great job in the League of Freshmen, but he’s no Taylor Swift. No. Never will be. Everyone’s watching her. Everyone is concerned with what she does. She put on a show that created an earthquake. It had actual tremors that were captured on the Richter scale.

She’s an unbelievable star, time person of the year. We are not. No one is watching. Everyone thinks they’re the star of their show. And they are the star of their own show. But the comforting thing is that everyone is a star of their own show. No one is worried about this stain Rob has on his shorts. He doesn’t really. But this is so freeing when you really start to realise. And then When you’re stepping out and you’re really worrying about…

a second sentence or getting it wrong or the little slip up or you’re not as polished as everyone else which I’m not but I’ve come to embrace that so I’m going to turn up exactly as my are and as I am and do my best and when you really really start to integrate that wisdom it’s incredibly freeing and you realise actually that people are then concerned about what they’re doing this afternoon or what they’re having for tea later so you turn up you can bring what you can bring on the day and that is enough

And that really helps me a lot. I just love that you’re encouraging, embracing your true authentic self. did say two things. There’s actually three things. There’s another thing I want to ask you because these are notes that I was really inspired by your talk listening to. I wrote down the letters C D E, which is create, curate digital environment. So again, put some context to our listeners and watchers around that and what your talk was about and yeah, your thoughts on it. Yeah, definitely. That’s the talk that’s happening tomorrow. It’s called digital sanity and it’s creating space in incredibly destructive world. Everything wants our attention.

non-stop in the workplace. We exist on laptops, right? We spend the entirety of our day looking through one, but we don’t consider that when we think about a wellbeing strategy in the workplace. For me, the greatest thing that any organisation, any legal business can do for their people is focus on giving people space. Letting the smart people you’ve employed, because you wouldn’t have employed them otherwise, do the role they’re paid for. We’re not paid to sit in meetings most of the time. Some of us might be a little bit, but we spend, I think, the vast majority of our time responding to instant messages, emails, and sitting on calls.

59 % of our day actually leaving 41 % of our day to do the actual work that we’re paid for We respond to emails within two seconds and we know better outside of work The average person UK spends an hour and 49 minutes on social media every day. Yeah, hopefully watching your content fingers crossed But we can cut that down right I was saying in the evening. I find myself triple screen and I’m watching something on TV I’ve got my laptop on just one more email It never is and I’ve my phone in my hand So we do it all day and then we step away to relax on more screens

But we can be intentional about creating space, be that in the workplace or outside of it. The magic happens in these moments right now. It happens from the connections that you make. But we have to be intentional. And intentionality for me is the absolute key when it comes to creating digital space. So for instance, if you’ve got six meetings per day and you auto schedule each and finish five, 10 minutes early, you will save 4.8 work weeks worth of time this year. Now that’s a lot of time to get up, to stretch, to move, to breathe, to be, to text.

a grandparent or your mum or your dad or a loved one and check in. Well being is no small thing but made up a small thing because that’s all there ever is. That is the secret. And we can create that and it takes small changes. But the key is if you make your meetings finish 5 to 10 minutes before the hour people will run straight through them because that’s just what we do. So a good trick is to actually get them to start 5 minutes after the hour or the 30 and people will message you saying well where the hell are you? You’d like check the calendar invite.

Yeah, love it. Nice little hack there. That’s good. Okay. And another thing that I wrote down, I think we talked, I pulled you after your talk because you gave some really good analogies and general context. I wrote B to B, broken to better. So again, you were talking a lot about, well, I’m going to butcher the story. So you tell us a little bit about it and give context to what I’m going through there. The Kintsugi piece. Yes. Yeah, of course. So for me, really struggled in my twenties. had an eating disorder.

had an accident almost off my life at that time as well, prior to that. And that was a complete shame that enveloped me. The only person I told was my mum for many years. And often with the things, our insecurities, what we’ve been through, they thrive in the darkness and the more we talk about them, the easier it becomes. And sure, hopefully you won’t be on stage talking about the things that you’ve been through, but you might. And those things that caused me so much anguish and pain many years ago are the reason I get to come and do events like this.

And I would have done anything for many years to step into the shoes and be someone else, but now I wouldn’t change a thing. And there’s a metaphor for this, and you might have heard this story already called kintsugi, it’s a Japanese pottery art. Essentially in the 16th century in Japan, the shogun was having his tea, his servant dropped his pot, and in 16th century Japan, that is a death sentence. He said, let me put it back together. He put it back together with staples, and the shogun was like, that is absolutely horrible, you’re gonna die.

He said, give me one more chance. He’s like, okay, one more chance, but you’re about to get it, all right? So you put it back together and they put it back together with gold glue, essentially holding this pot together. So where the pot was broken, it’s now stronger and more beautiful as a result of the things, essentially where the breaks essentially in the pottery. And that’s a metaphor for ourselves. So perhaps the thing that you’re really struggling with today will be your reason for being in a year’s time. Or perhaps if you look back 10 years ago and you think about what you were struggling with then, I imagine it’s…

part of the reason why you’re doing what you do now. So give yourself some forgiveness. And it’s a good way of looking back and showing that younger person some love as well, because they did what they could with what they had. And look at who you are now. You’re not all that awful liar. Love it. Love it. OK. I want to give a chance to talk about your book, because it’s incredible the work and effort you put into that, and actually to encourage others to start a book as well, because you believe everyone can write a book. Yeah. It actually started on the toilet. Like all good ideas. Oh, yeah, yeah. Tell us your toilet story. So I wanted to create.

content a bit like Rob and it’s a nerdy thing to do at first you put yourself out you agonize over every second word didn’t you? Yeah, the minutiae, Yeah of course you do and I bet you know I now look at him right but I started this show it’s gonna be toilet break well-being partly in homage to the fact that when I was really anxious I felt like I was in need of the wee every two seconds and actually to trivialize almost the seriousness around the subjects it’s about the little things done with regularity so apparently you go to the toilet eight times every day

And if you did 10 press ups every time you went to the loo, you’d do 29,200 press ups and you’d look almost as good as Rob. Yeah. I paid him for that. But it’s these little things that matter. And this works across every facet of our wellbeing, be that physical, mental, emotional, social, financial, relational, it doesn’t actually matter. It’s about those little habits. So I started this show with a selfie on the toilet. I was like, you flush and you flourish. I did a hundred episodes of this show, engaged almost 20 million people on socials, like getting used to it.

That turned into the book proposal, which I put to the publisher and they said, this is not, this is never a book. was like, okay, well at least I tried. Yeah. I said, give me another shot. And then we settled on 52 weeks of wellbeing and no nonsense guide. So I’d researched the book essentially over years by developing the con the content in public. And then when we signed the deal for that, the book ended up 52 different subjects of which originated from the toilet, 171 different tips inside the book. And the whole premise is.

What works to you won’t work for another. As I said, well-being is completely unique and subjective. And what works to you today probably won’t work for you in five years. And that’s good because it means you’ve evolved, hopefully, and not regressed. And the whole book is around that concept. And you’ve got bits on Kintsugi, another piece on meetings. And you take what works, implement that into your life. I like to make it super practical because I find, as with events as well, people can come and they share their stories and they might trauma dump. And fair play, they’ve come through it. But I want to make sure it’s something practical. People think, where am I?

in the context of this story. What does this mean for me and how can I make some small change after this? And that’s everything for the book and it’s like online the seven languages became a bestseller, was up for a couple of awards and yeah never quite expected it but if I can do it then I think you definitely can and I wrote it in Wetherspoons in Putney I like to that story at table 212. I went every Saturday and Sunday while working full-time leading the business at Deloitte and I loved the process and

I think it’s about finding something that you enjoy and if you have that strong sense of why or that project then it’s going to be like work and you’re going to gravitate towards it and that is the key for change in well-being or health. It’s about finding enjoyment in it. And I try and force myself to be a swimmer. I’m an awful swimmer. I try and go a fair bit, big breath, sucking in chlorine water. I don’t like it, I’m not going to do it. But I tried, you’ve got to learn, right? And then you’re going to gravitate towards the things that you do but give yourself permission almost to say no.

to sometimes as well and that’s just as powerful. Yeah, learning the power of know is super powerful. I’d like to finish with a a learn and a give because I always say before you drop before you earn you must learn if you drop the L you spells earn. What’s been a learn that you’ve picked up from being in the Lawyers Retreat? I have really really enjoyed we’ve got people here running businesses between like 20 and 50 people most people and it’s the attitude they take those organizations and from my perspective right now my business is growing.

And I’m looking at people with 20 thinking that is incredible. That’s the business that’s sorted. But it’s the attitude they’re taking to continuous development of themselves. Yeah. And taking that time out even when their business is performing as they are. I’m trying to really control a lot at the moment. I’m going through an investment rounds. The business is coming off the ground. And I think I actually need to ease up a little bit because if we can create the space and people are further ahead than me, creating space and doing it eloquently and holding that, I think that’s something that I can do better. Love it.

Appreciate the honesty as well. Okay, and finally, what’s one practical thing that you would give to people who have been here and to our watchers and listeners to really work on their wellbeing? Give us one practical step they can take. So now we’ve talked a lot about compounding the one step changes. What’s one thing they should start with immediately? For me, the unobvious thing is subtraction. I think it’s one thing you shouldn’t do. Okay. And I think actually most of us busy professional people listening to this, the people that are here have got full plates.

And think the greatest thing and gift you can give to yourself or to a smart person is giving them the chance to do something else. And to do so, you need five minutes. So I’d actually look through the last week, see how you spent your time, and see what’s not adding any value. Be that in the workplace or outside of it. And you can take that off your agenda for next week. Have some space. Try and own it. And leave that space. Perhaps don’t even get your phone out. Don’t watch something. Exist in that space. Give yourself a chance to think, to reflect. You deserve that time.

and often we’ll do anything apart from sitting in it. So for me, that’d be a big gift people can have. Fantastic. Well, it’s been an absolute pleasure hosting you and listening to you and watching you live here from Ibiza. If people want to know more about yourself, your business or indeed your book, where can they go to find out more? Feel free to share any social media handles, websites, et cetera. Yeah, hit me up on LinkedIn. That’s often the best platform or on Instagram, the Ryan Hopkins. Ryan Hopkins was taken. I don’t like to myself into it, but that is what it is.

That’s the best place. yeah, thank you very much for having me. I think you’ve been excellent here and created a wonderful energy. So I’m excited to watch more of your episodes now. Absolutely. So from all of us here on the Legally Speaking podcast sponsored by Clio for now, over and out. Thank you for listening to this week’s episode. If you like the content here, why not check out our world leading content and collaboration of the Legally Speaking Club over on Discord.

Go to our website www.legallyspeakingpodcast.com. There’s a link to join our community there. Over and out.