Sunday Times bestselling author, triple A-list Duracell bodyguard, SAS legend and quite probably the best motivator on the planet. Billy Billingham does it all, and when he does, he always goes a little further.
Since we’ve all gotta start somewhere, Loaded sat down for a chat with Billy ahead of his upcoming tour to find out where we can buy the same supercharged batteries.
“We're on a boy’s road trip at the minute,” Billy says by way of introduction. “We’re travelling all the way through these little back towns of America. It's absolutely awesome. We’ve been going into these towns off the beaten track and meeting people and just seeing what their lives are like and getting their views on things. It's amazing what you get from it. I’ve got my dog Alfie with me, he’s been travelling with me since he was a pup.”
Clearly his bulldog goes a little further, but where does the name for his new tour originate?
Always A Little Further: The What, Where And Why?
“Where did it come from? “Always a little further.” Well, when I was nine years old my life was going in the wrong direction,” says Billy. “I was hanging around with the wrong people. I was going off the rails. I was stealing trilby hats from old men. I don't know why I did it, but I did. So I was doing these stupid things in my little gang and then one day, some old man chased me and he caught me and my friends ran off and left me. I was petrified. I’d been caught then left alone. I was expecting a good hiding to be honest, but the man was calm. He just stood in front of me and said, “Look, keep the hat. There's something about you. I run a boxing club and I'd like you to come along to it. Keep the hat. I don't want it.” So of course, I agreed.
“The boxing club was at the back of the pub my dad used to drink in. I went alone at nine years old to meet a man I’d stolen from. Could you imagine your 9-year-old child doing that? No chance. But something told me to do it and I did.
“I was a natural, and after a period of time, he put me with these kids from other gangs that I'd been fighting against in the streets and taught us all a bit about boxing. One day, the man took me into a room on his own and he goes, “Lemme tell you all about boxing.” I was petrified. I thought, “Oh my God, this is payback now, he's really going to give me a hiding.” But again, the old man was calm. He looked me straight in the eye and said, “Boxing is not a sport of brutality. Boxing is a poor man's game of chess, it's about anticipating what’s in front of you. It's about being one step ahead of what's about to happen. It's about having respect for yourself, for the person in front of you, for the sport. And when you feel you can't go on anymore and the chips are down, you gotta say to yourself, “I can always go a little further.” And I’ll never forget those words. Whether that's one more round, one more minute, one more second, you can go that little bit further when your body feels it can't and your mind says it can’t.
“Fast forward twenty years and I joined the SAS. There’s a clock tower that honours those sadly killed in conflict at the bottom and a famous saying that you have to beat the clock. On that clock are a lot of friends of mine. So, when I joined the regiment, I went to that clock just to pay my respects and read some of the names. And then, I looked at it and at the very bottom of the clock tower, the final words are “Always a little further.” No joke, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I was like, “Oh my God.” And then I thought about it for a second. I stood there at the clock tower looking at these names of people that have fallen and I just went back to being that 9-year-old kid again. And I thought, “Actually, you know what? Subconsciously, that phrase was always there with me.” I can still remember the old man at the boxing club saying those words to me like it was yesterday. And I told myself, on that very day that I signed up for the Special Forces that I’d always give a little bit more. And I've carried that mantra on ever since. I believe in it so firmly, because we can all go a little bit further- whether it's an inch, a mile, a minute, a second, it doesn't matter. You can do it as long as you say to yourself, “I'm going to do it.” You have to push yourself and realise it ain't going to be easy. It's going to be difficult, but it's going to be achievable. You can do it.
“I think everybody should go a little further. Whether you want to challenge a friend who’s running a mile in six minutes, or you just want to challenge yourself, you should do it because a goal keeps you motivated and builds resilience. A goal is a reason to do something. Don't just settle for sitting there and talking about it. Get up and do it.
“”Always a little further” is whatever you can do that is a challenge to you, whether it's a walk, a run, or a new business; just get out and do it.”
Always A Little Further: Billy’s 6-Steps to Mental Fitness
- The first thing you’ve got to do is own who you are, own what you're doing.
- Set a challenge and actually do it. The only person that can do it is you. You've got to say to yourself, “I'm going to try it, I'm going to do it.” And it doesn't matter if you fail, whatever that challenge is, but you've got to at least attempt it.
- Accept where you are right now. If you’re in a dark place, accepting it ain't going to be easy, but it’s essential to move forwards.
- Realise it’s already happened and it’s history. If you’re not in a great place, then you're in a mentally dark space because of something that's already happened, whether it’s a relationship breakup, someone's died, or you've put tons of weight on and you're depressed about it, it doesn't matter. It's already happened. Accept it. It's already history. You can't change that because it's happened.
- What you’re going to do now is do something about it. The sooner you get up and move forward out of your normal daily routine and set that challenge, the better it's going to be.
Mental health issues, we all have 'em, everybody's going to have 'em. That's a fact. Life is up, down, up, down, got money, not got money, in a relationship, not in a relationship, all that sort of stuff. It's going to happen to everybody. So the sooner you break your routine, get outdoors, go to the gym, go swimming, go to a club, do something that you don't normally do, the better. And if that doesn’t work, it’s time for step six.
- I hear this a lot, people say to me, “Oh Billy, you're a soldier. You're so brave, you're so courageous. And I think, “Nah, I'll tell you what courage is. Courage is somebody who needs help having the bravery to reach out and tell people they’re not in a good place.” Courage is speaking out and saying “I need some support. I need help.” So first, set your challenges on your own. And if that doesn’t dig you out, then speak to somebody. It can be a friend, a relative or a professional. Remember: accept it, own it, realise it's already happened. You can't change what's already happened, but you can definitely do something to feel better and it's up to you how quickly you do it. Don't sit there and start a pity party in your own mind.
Billy is old-fashioned and writes everything down with a pen and paper, including notes for his tours and ideas for his bestselling novels. Fully fucking Loaded indeed. Here’s his insanely sharp daily routine.
4 Hours Sleep
“I've never been a big sleeper,” says Billy. “I generally only sleep about four hours a night if I'm honest. That doesn't mean I'm bouncing around. I'll lie in bed awake, thinking about stuff.
5:30am Training
“My day starts as soon as it gets light,” says Billy. “At around 5:30 I'll get out of bed. I don't wash, I don't eat anything. I don't drink anything. I'll put my sports kit on and I'll go out and run or I'll walk. I'll do some kind of physical exercise. It’s become routine for me. It's what I do and I feel like I need to do it. Physical fitness kick-starts my day. While I'm training for an hour, I'm thinking about what I need to be doing in terms of work for that day. On the days I don't want to do it, I always go harder. Always a little further.”
Write Shit Down
“I'm still very old fashioned and write everything down in a notebook,” says Billy. “70% of what I'm doing just now is charity stuff. That's how I fill up my day doing what I really need to be doing.”
Relax (Sort Of)
“Sometimes of an evening I'll try and do a little bit more fitness, something that’s light,” says Billy. “It could be yoga or just swim. And then I go and meet people, have a drink and start the ball rolling again.”
Billy says the script for his entire tour is in his head.
“My tour is my life's journey,” he says. “I've only got so much time to tell the stories. It's about the trials, tribulations, lessons learned, and influential people in my life. I always open it up and tell people I'm not one of these so-called “motivational speakers.” I listen to those types of people and a lot of it doesn't make sense to me. When somebody comes onto stage and goes, “Okay, take a piece of the earth, grab the negativity, take a bite of eternity,” I think to myself, “What the hell does that mean?” It’s absolute bullshit. Some people love it and I don't get it. What I do, I take 'em on a journey, my journey, from that naughty kid, all the way to where I am now. And a lot of it I'm not proud of, but I'll tell it because I don't want people making the same mistakes I made. When I was a young kid, I was running with gangs and getting into fights thinking it was clever. From getting stabbed and nearly dying, to working illegally before I joined the army, I managed to turn my life around. I share my life story so that people can sit and relate to it and avoid makign similar mistakes. Not to say I have the answers to everything, I don't, but you'll find a part of my life you can take and use to your benefit. I always finish off with where I am in my life now and that is being able to have a platform where people generally do listen and I can help people. Giving back is the best thing you can ever do and I love it.”
Billy has final words of advice for anyone suffering with their own mindset.
“Everybody's looking for an answer,” he says. “Everybody wants to be led by the hand, including myself. Sometimes you need guidance, and the thing is, the only person that can really get you into the best space or the worst space is you. As an example, every man wants a six-pack. Well, if you want a six-pack, you know what? You’d better start doing some sit ups and crunches and stuff. That's the only way you're going to get it. You're not going to get a tablet designed that is going to give you a six-pack. It's going to be hard work. Accept it. It's going to be hard work. Nothing's ever going to be easy, but it's going to be worth it.”
