Leon Scott | How To Use Your Influence
Chris Williamson (host), Leon Scott (guest), Narrator, Narrator
In this episode of Modern Wisdom, featuring Chris Williamson and Leon Scott, Leon Scott | How To Use Your Influence explores footballer-Model Leon Scott Explains Mindfulness, Balance, And Real Influence Leon Scott, a semi-professional footballer and commercial model, explains how his unconventional career began with small clothing shoots and grew into campaigns for major brands, all while working full-time as a support worker for adults with autism and Down syndrome. He contrasts the superficial side of modeling and Instagram with his deeper interest in mindfulness, meditation, and personal development. Leon details how meditation and mindset work have changed his behavior on the pitch, improved his training, and reshaped his understanding of happiness away from material attachments. He and Chris Williamson also unpack the pressures and illusions of social media, and how to use an online platform to promote genuine growth rather than empty status.
Footballer-Model Leon Scott Explains Mindfulness, Balance, And Real Influence
Leon Scott, a semi-professional footballer and commercial model, explains how his unconventional career began with small clothing shoots and grew into campaigns for major brands, all while working full-time as a support worker for adults with autism and Down syndrome. He contrasts the superficial side of modeling and Instagram with his deeper interest in mindfulness, meditation, and personal development. Leon details how meditation and mindset work have changed his behavior on the pitch, improved his training, and reshaped his understanding of happiness away from material attachments. He and Chris Williamson also unpack the pressures and illusions of social media, and how to use an online platform to promote genuine growth rather than empty status.
Key Takeaways
Appreciation and attitude matter more than looks for long-term success.
Leon repeatedly got rehired by brands not just because of his appearance, but because he was easy to work with, grateful, and respectful of the whole team rather than acting like the star.
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You can balance multiple demanding roles if you’re intentional with time.
He juggled semi-pro football, full-time support work, and frequent modeling by treating training and shoots as energizing rather than burdensome, squeezing in short gym sessions and protecting all three pillars.
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Mindfulness turns everyday frustrations into mental training.
Leon reframes problems—on the pitch, in traffic, or in life—as opportunities to practice letting go and strengthening his mind, rather than as evidence that life is against him.
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Meditation is hard work, but it builds emotional control.
Through apps like Calm, Buddhist classes, and retreats, both Leon and Chris found that while sitting with thoughts is tiring, it improves the ability to notice, accept, and release thoughts instead of being controlled by them.
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Chasing happiness through status and possessions leads to endless dissatisfaction.
Leon highlights that attachments to cars, clothes, and trends only give temporary highs; mindfulness teachings show that relying on external things for happiness eventually brings suffering.
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Social media personas are often a ‘game,’ not the whole person.
Both speakers admit that topless shots and lifestyle images are partly strategic to work with the platform’s rules, and caution viewers not to equate polished feeds with inner peace or real fulfillment.
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Use your influence to share tools, not just aesthetics.
Leon wants his platform to introduce people to books, apps, and practices (like Calm and Medium) that helped him, blending physical fitness content with messages about mindset and inner growth.
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Notable Quotes
“A lot of people want to work on what looks good, but a lot of people are blind to working on what feels good.”
— Leon Scott
“If a thought’s hurting you and bringing you pain, why are you still walking around with it?”
— Leon Scott
“Your life shouldn’t be spent at the mercy of the next action or thought that comes careening into your consciousness.”
— Chris Williamson
“Attachments will eventually cause suffering and pain if you rely on them for your happiness.”
— Leon Scott
“We still have to play the game, but we can choose the message we put through it.”
— Chris Williamson
Questions Answered in This Episode
How can someone who’s skeptical or restless start meditating without immediately giving up?
Leon Scott, a semi-professional footballer and commercial model, explains how his unconventional career began with small clothing shoots and grew into campaigns for major brands, all while working full-time as a support worker for adults with autism and Down syndrome. ...
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In a culture obsessed with image, how do you personally tell whether you’re posting from insecurity or from a genuine desire to help?
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What were the most noticeable changes on the pitch and in your relationships after you began practicing mindfulness consistently?
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How can young men who fear looking ‘uncool’ or ‘soft’ be encouraged to explore meditation and inner work?
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If you removed Instagram and modeling tomorrow, what practices or structures would you keep to maintain your current sense of purpose and happiness?
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Transcript Preview
(wind blowing) Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back. Leon Scott has joined me.
Thank you for having me, mate. Thank you for having me.
Thank you for coming up. I- it's making me feel incredibly pale.
(laughs)
And I'm not used to ... Uh, the co-hosts to the show, Johnny and Yusuf, one's a power lifter and one's a gymnast. So I'm not used to being the not- not the leanest person-
(laughs) .
... on the couch either, but I think we're competing with each other today, which is, which is totally fine. How are you? Are you good?
Yeah, I'm good, mate. Very good. Very good, thank you.
Brilliant. You recently moved football teams, right? You're at a new team.
I did, mate, yeah. Um, I'm at Whippy Town at the minute. Um, enjoying it. Uh, there's a few lads who I know that have played there. I've played there before, so, um, it's a returning club. Very friendly, family-run club. Um, so yeah, I'm enjoying it, mate, and, uh, it's good to be back enjoying the football.
Fantastic. So, for the viewers and the listeners that don't know you-
Mm-hmm.
... can you give us a little bit of background about what it is that you do? You got a- an interesting eclectic mix of, uh, elements of your life and I want to try and-
Yes.
... give a nice background.
Um, a bit about my background. Well, in terms of social media wise, uh, how that sort of all kicked off was, I think it must've been about seven, eight year ago now. Um, I was quite lucky and fortunate. It was actually, funny enough as you've mentioned, I was playing for Whippy Town-
(laughs) .
... how it all started. Um, I was playing for Whippy Town, just normal football, going about my normal thing and, uh, there was a young guy with an idea of a clothing brand back then, seven/eight, seven, eight years ago. It wasn't really a big thing back then. Well, not many people had done it. It was, uh, now you see every other person's making a clothing brand, but back then, it was more like only your Nikes, your Adidas, and so on and so on. Um, so yeah, he had an i- he had an idea. He asked me would I model his brand. Um, back then, I'd never done no modeling. I probably wasn't as confident in front of a camera, um, so I said, "Yeah, yeah, let's give it a go." Um, he was from Scarborough. Met up at Scarborough, um, and we just did a few shoots. And funny enough, the brand now is probably one of the biggest brands within the industry that I've worked in, which that being SickSilk.
Mm.
Uh-
I think they are, they were like the first mover-
They were the- Yeah, they were the-
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