Wayne the Farmer Ferguson
Genius You is designed to work for everyone. It doesn’t matter if you’re a hairdresser, prince, teacher, husband, business owner or checkout operator, Genius You is for you.
According to Wayne, ‘it’s for sorting your shit out, it finds the problem, it sees what’s wrong and then fixes it to make you a better person’.
Wayne’s bio
55-year-old male
Hard-working farmer – is there any other type
Married with two adult children
Happy home
Loving family
Successful farm
But…
But he thought he was thick because he left school without School Cert.
He never talked about feelings and ‘issues’ – the quintessential man of few words. *
Having red hair when he was younger didn’t help.
He was spending too much time with Eugene – his pet name for his anxiety
* This became a bit of a running joke. For example, I learnt that ok, actually means – “I’m doing absolutely fine, handling everything you’ve just taught me, I need a little bit more time to process though, I’ll talk to you later.”
Background
Wayne came to Genius You because he saw first hand the effect it was having on his daughter. He watched her ‘light up’ and could see the impact that the programme had on her business.
Even though he was brought up in a time when self-understanding programmes sat in the same territory as palm reading, he decided to give it a go.
He didn’t know what to expect but he knew that he wanted a happier life and he had to do something different in order to achieve that.
Issues
The success of a farmer’s year is dependent on two major variables which are out of their control - the weather and the economy. This caused Wayne huge stress which was by exacerbated by his self-doubt.
In turn, this resulted in him being angry a lot of the time and he wasn’t able to show much in the way of empathy. And he held firm to the belief that he was incapable of learning anything.
Objective
Get rid of the anxiety that has been the bane of Wayne’s life
(Objectives should be simple, easy to understand and seen to be achievable.)
Genius You journey
Genius You is a self-understanding programme, and in this case Wayne was the topic. He was not doing a course; he was learning about himself.
Foundation Programme
Learning about Wayne
Introducing the principles of Genius You
Teaching self-observation
Discovering – interviews with a cross-section of five people in Wayne’s life
Mapping his operating system
Learning how to use emotions to dismantle the barriers.
Three-week master class – to embed and add polish.
The breakthrough came when Wayne started to believe that he could learn.
Once he understood where his thoughts and his behaviour came from, he developed the insights to change things. He was no longer reinforcing his destructive behaviour.
Outcomes
High Success
Eugene is under control.
Tactics have been developed to harness and tame.
“I’m a better man.”
“I have definitely stopped worrying and I am not anywhere near as angry.”
“Now I just have to keep practicing, continue to get better at stuff and never go back to the old ways.”
Investment
Time – 9 weeks
Session commitment – 1-2 hours per week
Additional – 30 mins of active work a day
Cost – $2,000.00
Conclusion
Genius You is challenging in parts and Wayne handled these with dignity and few ‘choice words’.
He knows that he has as much potential as anyone else. It doesn’t matter how you did as school; it matters that you are brave and are willing to challenge your own thinking.
And I found out that GY works for farmers.
Wayne’s become a close friend. One I’m proud of having. In the middle of our journey it was my birthday.
The day before there was a knock on the door. It was a cake. From the Southland GY project.
Hand-picked by my mate Wayne.