LATEST EPISODES

In 2014 Nic Marchesi and Lucas Patchett had the crazy idea of putting a washing machine and dryer in the back of a van to offer a free laundry service to those doing it tough in Brisbane. Well, seven years later that initial idea has evolved into an amazing organisation called Orange Sky and the two-man band has grown into a team of sixty-plus employees and more than 3,500 volunteers, operating 36 services across 25 locations in Australia, including six services in remote communities, and three services across two locations in New Zealand. On top of the laundry service, Orange Sky now have vehicles fitted with mobile hot showers to serve those who don’t have access to the basics. Amazing. Nic and Lucas are doing great things and I loved our chat.

Dr. Jodi Richardson is back on TYP and as always, she’s charming, interesting and super down-to-earth, sharing some pretty revealing stories about her own ongoing journey with anxiety, her work, parenting, her new podcast, getting her 1st dan black belt in Karate, explaining how trauma lives in the body, having hard conversations, perfectionism and a hilarious story about buying booze. Lots of it. She assures us she doesn’t have a drinking problem. Allegedly. Enjoy.

Mark LeBusque, Tiff and I wax lyrical about a bunch of things in this very-informal chat, including the credibility of ‘work-life balance’ as an idea (there’s a better concept), the psychology of Christmas (some people are already planning for a terrible day and making themselves anxious four weeks before it’s ‘required’), the idea of ‘life design’ (what is it and how we can do it) and lots more. Enjoy.

Turns out that Tommy and I don’t hold back on the tears. Melissa, on the other hand.. straight up Ice Queen but me and the Jackett… blubbering cry babies. Ads on the telly, Adele’s new song, soldiers coming home from war and surprising their kids, the back-stories of contestants on talent shows… drop of a hat, I’m done. Tear fest. So, I’m a softy. We also spoke about smart marketing, what we choose to show the world (of us) on social media and why, Tommy’s background as a stripper and unpacking that history with his wife’s very Christian family (so good), why he did our interview from his car, the difference between talking and communicating, defining the idea of ‘living in alignment’ (it can be confusing) and lots more. Enjoy.

As a child, Mariam Issa dreamed of traveling to faraway places but she did not imagine having to flee Somalia’s civil war on a leaky over- crowded boat to Kenya – pregnant and holding her two young sons for dear life. Nor did she dream of the horrors of genital mutilation, bombings or her close-knit family being torn apart and spread across six countries, including Australia, where she now resides. Through all the darkness and desperation, Mariam has come out the other side a compassionate, kind, generous and highly motivated person, dedicated to making the world (or her part of it) a more loving, connected and tolerant place. This was a fascinating conversation with a fascinating person. Enjoy.

We started this conversation the other day and it seemed to resonate and connect with a few people, so here’s the second (and final) bit. Enjoy.

Imagine being in charge of 5,000 soldiers in the middle of a war zone in the most dangerous place on earth at the time (Ramadi, 2006). Well, that was Major General John Gronski’s reality for an entire year. There were another forty years of courage, combat and service but it’s fair to say, that was a significant time for him. We covered a lot of territory in this episode, but essentially, it was a conversation about human optimisation and performance in any situation. John is insightful and inspirational and when I grow up, I wanna be like him.

Turning the worst day of your life into your best is no easy feat but sometimes, it happens. In Brett Connellan’s case, this day included the moment when every surfer’s worst nightmare became his reality; being attacked by a Great White Shark. As the light was fading at Bombo Beach on the evening of the 30th of March, 2016, Brett was inches from death. He had lost three-quarters of his left quad, more than half his blood volume and emergency responders on the scene were sure he would not make it. Thankfully he did, we caught up with him and (no surprise) his story is a ripper and so is he. Enjoy.

Over the years, there have been numerous ideas, thoughts, revelations and lightbulb moments that (for me), were truly powerful and truly transformational. Often, life changing. Realisations that enabled me to think, choose, act, create, connect and self-manage in a way that eluded me, prior to my new awareness or understanding. As always, the thoughts I share here are not a personal prescription or recommendation but rather, an insight into the way things evolved for me and the way I evolved in relation to those things. Enjoy.

Young Tommy was back steering the TYP ship, launching questions at me with his verbal slingshot and we managed to meander through an hour (or so) of exploring the complexities and joys of being human. We spoke about the role of confidence, striving for perfection (is it good or bad?), evaluating our own work, people who over-estimate their ability, having our work (talent, results, creative output) evaluated by others (and the associated anxiety), creating opportunities (vs. waiting for them), when (and how) the hard stuff become easy, when other people have more faith in us than we do in ourselves, building momentum and lots more.

Matt Brumby is a Para Athlete Ironman World Champion, Half Ironman World Champion, Invictus Games Captain and Gold Medalist, Motivational Speaker and as it turns out, a larrikin Aussie who is equal parts courage, inspiration, commitment and humour. Half way through our chat, Matt complained that his Zoom settings meant that (on his computer) my head took up the entire screen. Apparently, it wasn’t great viewing and he asked Tiff how to change it. I kind-of understand. Enjoy.

Is the ever-present challenge; learning to ‘operate’ me (you), optimally. Physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, practically. Exercise Physiologist Russ Jarrett is back at TYP HQ (along with Tiff) and this time we have a stupidly-long two-part chat around the idea of creating our own optimal (specific to us) health plan. Keep in mind that there’s no universal ‘best’ workout, diet, lifestyle, protocol or operating system but rather a million ‘bests’, depending on a broad range of personal variables including (but not limited to) genetics, age, fitness level, training history, injuries, medical issues, goals, resources, lifestyle, sleep habits, career, mindset, dietary habits and lots more. Enjoy.

Is the ever-present challenge; learning to ‘operate’ me (you), optimally. Physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, practically. Exercise Physiologist Russ Jarrett is back at TYP HQ (along with Tiff) and this time we have a stupidly-long two-part chat around the idea of creating our own optimal (specific to us) health plan. Keep in mind that there’s no universal ‘best’ workout, diet, lifestyle, protocol or operating system but rather a million ‘bests’, depending on a broad range of personal variables including (but not limited to) genetics, age, fitness level, training history, injuries, medical issues, goals, resources, lifestyle, sleep habits, career, mindset, dietary habits and lots more. Enjoy.

Best-selling author, super-sleuth researcher, lawyer and TYP regular (we’re a big deal now) David Gillespie, is back and this time we talk about cults and religions (I’m starting one), getting in flow, the bendy-ness (a word) of time, his preferred writing process, universal basic income, crystallising thoughts, nootropics (cognitive enhancers), food labelling (super dodgy), why so many non-smokers are dying of lung cancer in Singapore (it’s not what you think and it’s mainly women), the big quit (the post pandemic workplace exodus) and his article called ‘Why vegetable oils are much more deadly than cigarettes’. Enjoy.

Katy Milkman is a Professor at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and holds a secondary appointment at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine. Her research explores ways that insights from economics and psychology can be harnessed to change consequential behaviours for good. When under 30 (she became a professor at 27!), Katy was named one of the world’s top 40 business school professors under 40. Meanwhile, at 27 I was trying to lift heavy things and find more chicken. Among other things, we covered temptation bundling (teaming it with something fun), internal factors which impact change, delaying gratification, the real deal with changing habits, the value of being mediocre, having a growth mindset, flexibility (in the change process) versus rigidity, the pros and cons of having a support crew, the ‘Fresh Start Effect’, autobiographical memory and her new book called ‘How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be’. Enjoy.

Professor Peter Brukner is back for another sesh at TYP Central and as expected, he doesn’t disappoint. This time the Medical Feather Ruffler (MFR) and I talk about diabetes (in some detail), healthy scepticism, ice baths (yes or no), stretching (yes or no), active recovery, the evolution of physical rehabilitation (over the years), why Alzheimer’s is sometimes called ‘type-3 diabetes’, why some people want the Prof. to stop talking about diet and plenty more. Enjoy.

Ben Pronk is the Managing Partner of Mettle Global, a premium corporate advisory firm specialising in establishing and developing organisational resilience and preparing companies for the volatility and uncertainty of the contemporary world. His first career spanned 24 years in the Australian Army, with the majority of that time spent in the Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment. In this capacity, Ben served on multiple operational deployments and was decorated for leadership in action. He concluded his service as Commanding Officer of the SAS. This was a great chat with a great bloke, who’s now working with us regular civilians, helping us navigate life with greater awareness, understanding, resilience, skill and joy.

Is ethical lying even a thing? Not totally sure but nonetheless, we explore it. Turns out, I’m a periodic fibber. Sorry to disappoint you. I know I’m the only one. My adopted son is back in the big chair asking me questions and keeping me on my cognitive toes. Apart from our exploration into fibs, we also discuss the ‘Law of Attraction’ (don’t start me), manifesting success (FFS), free will (do we really have it?), decision fatigue, Tommy’s marriage built on sand, types of intelligence, Ron Harper (the Patriarch), giving up vs. letting go, the importance of fun and Tommy’s regression into the world of decaffeinated coffee. I couldn’t be more disappointed.

Is ethical lying even a thing? Not totally sure but nonetheless, we explore it. Turns out, I’m a periodic fibber. Sorry to disappoint you. I know I’m the only one. My adopted son is back in the big chair asking me questions and keeping me on my cognitive toes. Apart from our exploration into fibs, we also discuss the ‘Law of Attraction’ (don’t start me), manifesting success (FFS), free will (do we really have it?), decision fatigue, Tommy’s marriage built on sand, types of intelligence, Ron Harper (the Patriarch), giving up vs. letting go, the importance of fun and Tommy’s regression into the world of decaffeinated coffee. I couldn’t be more disappointed.

Stephen Scheeler is the former Facebook CEO for Australia and New Zealand, where he guided Facebook’s unprecedented rise from quirky Silicon Valley start-up to media and technology titan. Working with Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook’s Silicon Valley leaders, his tenure at Facebook saw the Australian and New Zealand business – including Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Oculus – grow to become one of the most successful Facebook markets in the world. This was an interesting chat about life, business, learning to adapt, workplace culture, creativity, work-life balance, leadership, purpose and lots more.

Lance Picioane is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Adelaide, Hawthorn and the Kangaroos. Lance is the founder and CEO of the ‘Love Me Love You’ foundation; a not-for-profit mental health foundation, raising awareness and providing services and programs to improve the lives of young people who need help. What was Lance’s nightmare (alcohol and drug abuse, anxiety, depression, suicide attempts) has become his passion and purpose. Lance is a rock-solid human who’s turned his life around and is empowering others to do the same. I really enjoyed my time with him.

Today’s guest on TYP is responsible for my all-time favourite TED talk ‘My Stroke of Insight’ and her name is Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor. About a decade ago, I watched this amazing Researcher and Neuroanatomist share in intricate detail about the day the left hemisphere of her brain went ‘off-line’ courtesy of a burst blood vessel and stroke that almost took her life. The Brain Scientist was able to witness her own brain shutting down and within four hours, she could not speak, read, walk, write or remember anything from her past. Jill compares her stroke to being like an infant again. Her personal experience, her subsequent eight-year recovery and her training as a Brain Scientist provide her with a unique insight into and understanding of, the brain. It also makes her a brilliant teacher. In a world where platitudes are thrown around like verbal frisbees, this woman is truly remarkable, inspirational and brilliant. Enjoy.

It’s was Melissa’s turn to sit in the big chair and fire questions at me at TYP Central, so if you’re sick of the sound of my voice, you might want to give this one a miss. And as per the title, we recorded this ep. on a Monday arvo (Nov. 8) and we went deep, fast. And by ‘we’, I mean me. In essence, Melissa asked me a bunch of questions about how I (personally) navigate my life and all the accompanying peaks and troughs, fuck-ups and triumphs, breakthroughs and breakdowns. Enjoy.

TYP fave, Bobby Cappuccio is back and this time he navigates some quick-fire questions with an allocated 3 minutes per question. If you know Bobby, ‘succinct’ is not really his thing, so this was fun. Here’s some of what we explored… what makes a great coach, learning styles, the relationship between the brain and mind, the Metaverse, what to look for in a gym, creating new habits, what makes a great fitness professional, why success doesn’t ‘feel’ very successful, why we’re reactive and not proactive with our health, getting off the stop-start (behavioural change) merry-go-round and lots more. Enjoy.

Dr. Guy Winch has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, lives in New York, is a best-selling author (Emotional First Aid, How to Fix a Broken Heart, The Squeaky Wheel, How to Turn off Work Thoughts During Your Free Time), international speaker and super-successful TED presenter. I prepped for our chat by watching his TED talk: ‘How to Fix a Broken Heart’ and totally loved it. Enjoy.

My adopted son TOMMY JACKETT is back in the number 1 seat firing questions at me and we cover some interesting territory including.. the skill of making-shit-up as we go, dealing with constructive feedback, the need to be right, the security blanket of faith and belief, the impossibility of objectivity, confirmation bias, the value of good questions, being okay with uncertainty, our attachment to our opinions and lots more. Enjoy.

I know I say this a lot but this was a ripper. HE is a ripper. Such and interesting and relevant-for-so-many conversation. David Gillespie is a lawyer and the best-selling author of Sweet Poison, a book published in 2008 about how we are all poisoning ourselves with sugar, generally credited with starting the current wave of sugar awareness in Australia. He followed Sweet Poison up with 4 more books about nutrition and diet. Then, having upset the dietetics industry by writing about stuff in which he has no qualifications, he turned his focus to something else he is unqualified to write about, education with his book Free Schools. Detouring briefly back to nutrition in his 7th and 8th books (Eat Real food, 2015 and the Eat Real Food Cookbook 2016), his next target was Psychology with a book about surviving contact with psychopaths in the workplace and at home. His most recent work called Brain Reset explores the challenge of breaking the cycle of anxiety, depression, stress and addiction and restoring mental calm and stability. Enjoy.

Dean Karnazes is a freak in the best possible way. I don’t often feel lazy or out of shape but next to this bloke, I’m Humphrey Bear in a hammock. If you’re into human optimisation, developing resilience, exploring your potential, lowering your biological age and living healthy into old(er) age, you’ll dig this episode. TIME magazine named Dean one of the “Top 100 Most Influential People in the World.” Men’s Fitness hailed him as one of the fittest men on the planet. Stan Lee, of Marvel Comics fame, called him, “A real superhuman.” An acclaimed endurance athlete and NY Times bestselling author, Dean has pushed his body and mind to inconceivable limits. Among his many accomplishments, he has run 50 marathons, in all 50 US states, in 50 consecutive days, he’s run 350 continuous miles (563km), foregoing sleep for three nights. He’s run across the Sahara Desert in 120-degree temperatures, and he’s run a marathon to the South Pole in negative 40 degrees. On ten separate occasions, he’s run a 200-mile relay race solo, racing alongside teams of twelve. His long list of competitive achievements includes winning the World’s Toughest Footrace, the Badwater Ultramarathon, running 135 miles nonstop across Death Valley during the middle of summer. He has raced and competed on all seven continents of the planet, twice over. Like I said, freak. Enjoy.

When it comes to transforming your life (or part thereof), the actual project, is you (me, us). Because when you are different (thinking, choices, behaviours, habits, operating system), your life is different. Even in the middle of the same or a similar situation, our ‘life experience’ can be drastically different when we are physically, mentally, emotionally and/or behaviourally different. So, how do we turn our goals, dreams, ideas, potential and passion into a logical, strategic practical process that can transform our ‘theoretical somethings’ into actual measurable outcomes? And how do we step out of the Groundhog Day-ness of our current existence and into a new cognitive, behavioural and operational reality? This episode is a conversation about that.

Like many others, Nicole Monteforte has been through some messy, complicated, very un-fun shit in her life. As in, a lot of it. Despite that, I had a fun and relatable conversation with someone who has continued to find a way to work through the mess and pain, develop skills and resilience, ask great questions, roll up her sleeves, do the hard (but effective) stuff, manage her stress and anxiety (with some interesting techniques) and to empower others to do the same. Enjoy.

This episode was essentially an hour of me thinking out loud (with Tiff) about the idea of being open-minded (what it means and whether it’s possible), confirmation bias, life in the echo chamber, recognising our programming, the subjective nature of being human, our need to be right, the process of unlearning, being unteachable, the psychology behind religion, our desire for certainty and much more. Enjoy.

There are so many conflicting ideas, protocols and messages, when it comes to optimal eating, what it means and how to execute it. Dietician Kate Save is back on TYP for a fun and informative chat and along the way we challenge a few theories, talk about my dad’s drastic improvement with his blood sugar (he’s a diabetic), discuss gut health, the impact of food on cognitive function, why I won’t be giving up rice (despite Kate’s advice), Zoodles, why almond milk is not milk, iron absorption (or lack thereof), I get an official ‘rating’ on my breakfast and lots more. Enjoy.

Christian ‘Boo’ Boucousis is an entrepreneur, business owner and executive leadership and performance coach. At the age of 19 he was recruited into the Royal Australian Air Force as a pilot and completed over 11 years as an elite fighter pilot; one of only 400 trained over a 38-year period. The product of a $15 million dollar training program, Boo reached the pinnacle of his career as a Squadron Leader, before his medical discharge for a chronic auto immune disorder known as Ankylosing Spondylitis. At 30 Boo made a life changing decision, boarding a commercial flight to Kabul Afghanistan, where he founded CTG Global, a Humanitarian business delivering projects on behalf of United Nations agencies. Over a period of three years Boo cut his business teeth in one of the world’s most demanding, challenging and dangerous environments on the planet, successfully growing the business until its sale four years later. Today CTG is a multi-million-dollar company with operations spanning the globe. I enjoyed this chat with the very-high-energy Boo and it’s fair to say, I may have needed a lie down after we were done. Enjoy.

I knew I’d click with Dr. Stan Beecham when he showed up to the recording with a didgeridoo, while wearing an Akubra and then proceeded to play for me. And when I say ‘play’… well, you know. Not totally weird considering we’re an Aussie podcast but somewhat weird considering he’s an academic, author, psychologist and leadership consultant living in Roswell, Georgia in the States, who’s never been to Oz. I loved his energy, his personality and his ability to explain ‘sciencey stuff’ in a totally user-friendly (no BS) manner. Among other things, we spoke about fear of failure, being judged, why we care about what strangers think of us, our need to belong, identity and where it comes from, over-thinking, where our beliefs come from and why we are so attached to them (even when they’re wrong), the value of curiosity, the conversations in our head, being present, work-life balance, the gift of mediocrity and our obsession with success and happiness. Enjoy.

Investigating homicides, working a forensic expert and leading international teams into scenes of crisis and disaster is not your normal path to global keynote speaker, charity founder, business consultant and humanitarian but nonetheless, it is the path of Peter Baines. I’ve probably never spoken less in a podcast (and I’m chatty AF) but I didn’t want to get in the way of this amazing human who’s done (and continues to do) amazing things, helping people in the middle of the worst (life and death) situations, all around the world. Enjoy.

The theory of Personal Development (workshops, books, programs, products, podcasts, ideas, strategies, models) is not the practical process of it (work, effort, application, more work). Knowing is not doing, intentions are not actions and plans are not outcomes. Some people know lots, read lots, listen lots and even understand lots, while doing fuck-all to change their life for the better because, while the idea of Personal Development is sexy, appealing and marketable, the actual transformative process can be a messy, uncomfortable, inconvenient shit-fast of peaks and troughs, pain and pleasure, breakdowns and breakthroughs. And while everyone wants the destination, very few will take the journey. This is a conversation about you and your journey. Enjoy.