Better Than Yesterday with Osher Günsberg

Doug Menuez is a photographer from the US, who has covered everything from the Ethiopian Famine, the emergence of the AIDS crisis, and most notably the rise of Silicon Valley between 1985 and 2000. You and I are communicating right now, both broadcasting and listening, thanks to people that he chronicled during his time documenting the incredible emergence of that part of the world and the technology to come out of it. Doug and I first came to know each other when I was studying at THNK in Amsterdam, and I’m so very grateful that he and I were able to talk today. I’ve always been a firm believer in documenting your work - my vast collection of on-set and behind the scenes pictures from the early years of Idol and my time in the USA are a testimony to that, and Doug is a fantastic example of why it’s important. Possibly his most important work was documenting the incredible rise of Silicon Valley from 1985-2000, capturing the creation of technology that you and I use every single day. You might not ever think you’ll be a photojournalist, you might only ever take photos on your phone, however what Doug has to talk about today is not only a masterclass in documenting the world around you - but also what it takes to truly change the world, from a man that was in the room as the world was being changed. This one’s pretty nerdy - it’s not often get to talk to one of my photography heroes, but hey you never know - what works for Doug in his photography process might just translate into your own process…Doug joined me over Skype from his loft in NYC, enjoy this conversation with the great Doug Menuez. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Paul De Gelder is a former naval clearance diver whom after a horrific shark attack which saw him lose his right forearm and right leg, has since become a high-profile shark conservationist, author, actor, motivational speaker and advocate for a plant-based diet. A former Brisbane boy, he found incredible success in the military. First with the Australian Army and then with the Navy - until in February 2009, while testing some new technology in Sydney Harbour right by the naval base next to the opera house, he was attacked by a bull shark - an attack that nearly killed him. Paul has described feeling a whack on the leg, looking down and seeing a bull shark, two rows of 36 razor sharp teeth, locked on to his upper right thigh. He tried to push the shark away when he realised that his right hand was also in the shark’s mouth as it was literally eating him alive, all the while dragging him deeper underwater. Suddenly the shark was gone, and Paul’s wetsuit was buoyant enough to bring him back to the surface where he managed to swim back to the safety boat. Multiple complicated surgeries, months of painful rehab and sheer determination later - Paul returned to the Navy as a diving instructor, this time with a prosthetic arm and leg. Paul’s story is one that rightly has inspired millions around the world, who now know him as one of the faces of the international cultural phenomenon “Shark Week”, where he’s routinely back underwater, back face to face with nature’s apex predators. I can’t get enough of this guy. He’s a testament to acceptance of a situation beyond your control, then adapting and living your fullest life with your new parameters. Paul’s such an inspiring man, a beacon of showing how strength and compassion coexist within one person.  He’s also a man who’s mental fortitude is one I aspire to, his outlook on life is something that I wish to emulate. If you have Instagram I’d highly suggest following him there - @pauldegelder. In fact just the other day he posted something that I wanted to share with you. "Probably the biggest reason I never slid into depression is because I found value and purpose. I lost a lot. But instead of bitching about it I found ways to fill those holes with a whole new set of skills and a whole new life. No PTSD, no nightmares, never a flashback. The struggle doesn’t weaken us, it forges us into a stronger more durable tool to improve the lives of those around us. That’s value and purpose.”He’s an incredible guy, I am stoked for you to meet him. So if you will, come to my kitchen where you can sit and enjoy a cup of tea with this absolutely remarkable man, the one and only Paul De Gelder.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Damon Herriman is an Australian actor best known for his work in the TV show Justified and Mr Inbetween. He and I met when I first started working in TV back in the day, and even lived in the same building for a while when I was living in LA. Damon is on the cusp of exploding into the stratosphere - when we spoke he wasn’t able to discuss what he was working on while I was recording, however I knew it would eventually come out - so I can tell you now. Damon has been cast in the new Tarantino movie Once Upon a time in Hollywood, playing the role of Charles Manson. An astonishingly high-profile role for him, working with a legend of cinema - one I wish we could have spoken about but that’s ok, listening to this you’ll get to know more about this remarkable man and the path that he’s taken to get to this dizzying height. I was particularly interested in talking to him about the seasonal aspect of his job, how he deals with the ebbs and flows of the work. Damon is a humble guy, and came around to the apartment a few weeks back for a cuppa and some irregular dog barking from Frank.I hope you enjoy this engaging conversation with Damon Herriman. In case you need it: https://www.efax.com.au/Our PM Scott Morrison’s Fax numbers: +61295238959 +61262734100Our Environment minister Melissa Price’s Fax numbers:+61 8 9192 8860+61 8 9921 7990 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My guest today is Psychologist Tahnee Schulz. Tahnee is a highly experienced psychologist with a background in mental health, trauma, substance use, complex co-morbid presentations and corporate psychology. For the past four years, she has specialised in critical incident response and has worked with various people involved in and affected by the tragic passing of cricketer Phillip Hughes, the Sydney Lindt Café siege, several Royal Commissions and the Nepal Earthquakes Rescue Mission.She’s essentially like the mental health paramedic, but instead of a medical kit full of butterfly stitches and IV drips, she has her words and knowledge to assist with the mental trauma of a situation with great physical trauma and danger. This conversation talks a lot about trauma and the effects of trauma. Part of the chat takes us to a pretty grim place and about 1/2 hour in there’s a conversation about a case she worked on that involved a kid - if you want to skip ahead a few minutes I won’t be upset. If this conversation does bring anything up for you please call lifeline 131114. You’re going to get a lot out of this - I know I did. Please enjoy this conversation with Tahnee Schulz.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

James Fielding is a doctor, drummer, CEO and founder of a number of companies including Audeara. Find him on Twitter and Instagram @jamesafielding He’s from Brisbane, Australia, and is one of the young guns of the very hot entrepreneurial start up scene there in Queensland. James has quite a story to tell and in this conversation you’ll hear about how he as a doctor chose to pivot into helping others at scale through the power of music. As someone with noise-induced hearing loss, it’s people like James that really fascinates me - because he’s found a way to fuse his love of music with his desire to help people. But he’s so much more than that. If you’ve ever thought about starting a business, or putting yourself out there - this conversation is for you. If you thought you had to wait until you got overseas to start your venture - after this conversation you’ll be fired right up. I firmly believe the future of Australia is nested in our intellectual capital, and people like James are the new frontier of entrepreneurs who stay here to build their businesses and bring knowledge and momentum to our country - a thing that for so long left to foreign shores where in the past capital and opportunity were more readily available - as James clearly says - that’s no longer the case. We’re in a whole new world my friends, and James and his team are one of the companies leading the charge. I know you’ll get a lot out of this conversation with James Fielding. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My guest today is Ali Hill. She’s the CEO of Australian Financial Review Fast 100 company Pragmatic Thinking, she’s a psychologist and a best-selling author of the book “Stand Out: A real world guide to get clear, find purpose and become the boss of busy”. Seems like a pretty good idea, right?Her podcast is called “Stand Out life” and can be heard wherever podcasts are - probably the same place you hear this one. She’s got a lot to say about psychology and the role of psychology in negotiation in the workplace, care at work and how to manage stresses that come with a modern life - but you’ll hear all of that in the next hour. You can find her on IG at @alihillHope you enjoy this chat with Ali Hill. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Catherine Milne is the publisher at Harper Collins - she’s the reason I have a book out. Catherine is an extraordinary woman, with a wonderful passion for her work and the written word, she is warm and kind and as you’ll hear speaks with a romantic glow in her heart about story and the power of story. Catherine has a tough job - taking chumps like me, who’ve never written more than 800 words and turning them into authors. She guided me through the process with a kind but firm hand, she helped me through the hard parts and talked me through what works and what doesn’t work. You might not yet have written a book, but listening to this conversation with Catherine, I hope you’ll understand a bit more about the kind of person that it takes to bring a book from a thought to a thing. She’s a truly wonderful woman.I hope you enjoy this conversation with Catherine Milne. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Matthew Mitcham is a retired Olympic Diver who has a life full of firsts. He’s the first openly gay athlete to ever win an Olympic gold medal, winning that gold medal with the highest-ever single dive score in Olympic History. While his career was incredibly high profile, and he indeed achieved dominance in his sport - it was what happened out of the pool that has in my opinion shaped the wonderful man who came over to our apartment this week. Matthew wrote a memoir in 2012 called “Twists and Turns”, and is currently topping off a linguistics degree as he grows into a superb cabaret performer. He’s got a show coming up this week in Sydney - UP CLOSE AND PERSONALwith Matthew MitchamSaturday 27 October, 7pmBondi Pavilion Theatrehttp://www.bonditheatrecompany.com.au/shows/up-close-and-personalThis conversation talks a bit about diving. A bit about sexuality, and a LOT about addiction and recovery. There’s quite a bit of stuff in here that might trigger you if you or someone you know has a history of crystal meth use - and if you need someone to talk to in Australia please call Lifeline on 13 11 14, or reach out to the crisis counselling service in your area.Speaking of reaching out. In this conversation Matthew and I speak a lot about meetings. The meetings are everywhere, they’re not hard to find, and if you need help, and you’re willing to do whatever it takes to not need to drink or use again, you’ll find what you need in those meetings. I can’t recommend them enough. If you’ve never had a problem with drinking or using - I hope this conversation gives you a window into what life can be like in recovery, and the daily work that can happen so that life doesn’t need to be a repetitive downward spiral heading to the foregone conclusion of institution, hospitalisation or incarceration, or worse. That’s not the chirpiest intro I’ve done - but this is a solid chat with a guy that’s got some solid time, it was good to talk about recovery this way. You can find Matthew on twitter he’s @matthew_mitcham and instagram @MatthewMitcham88- let him know you heard him here, and enjoy this conversation with Matthew Mitcham. That was he’s on Twitter @matthew_mitcham and instagram @MatthewMitcham88- let him know you heard him here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Emma Roche is an Australian author and whole-food plant-based food advocate who lives year-round in Belgium. You can find her on instagram @plantplateI’m very aware of the privilege that I have as a white, male, middle class guy that I can afford to live a plant-based life. Indeed at times in my life I have definitely gone overboard and bought the $20 jar of organic virgin dirt single origin solar-powered peanut butter.However it doesn’t have to be like that. And lately I’ve been getting more and more frugal about how I feed myself to live this way, and you know what - chickpeas are cheap. Rice is cheap. Veggies are cheap. It doesn’t have to be a Gwennyth Paltrow $470 a week for one person grocery bill. It can be, but it doesn’t have to be. This is where Emma Roche comes in. She’s written a couple of brilliant books about living a whole-food plant based life on a budget. In fact they do what they say on the box “Whole Food Plant Based on $5 a day” is the book I first found, and it spread the message that you can feed yourself and your family well, and cheaply, on less than $50 a week per person - which is a pretty excellent price point if you ask me. Her books are available at plantplate.comIf you’re new to the idea of eating this way, or you’ve been curious about it but don’t know how to make the first steps away from the food you grew up knowing, or you're befuddled at the $10 macrobiotic sprouted tempeh that you think you need to put in each meal - this episode is for you. A warning, if you haven’t eaten yet and you’re listening to this on an empty stomach, you’ll want to cook something delicious today I can guarantee it. Emma’s a great chat, and we caught up over Skype from her home in Europe. Enjoy this conversation with Emma Roche.  Until we speak next time, do what you can where you are with what you have, and urge those in power to do the right thing. Our Prime Minister’s number is:Telephone:(02) 6277 7700Fax:(02) 6273 4100Angus Taylor the Minister for Energy is Phone: (02) 6277 7710And Melissa Price, Minister for the Environment is at Ph:  (02) 6277 4242It’s up to us my friends. You can’t do everything, you can’t do nothing, but you can do something. So let’s do it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jarrad Seng is an Australian photographer, videographer, artist and former contestant on the toughest game on the planet - Survivor. I’m very aware that as a white, straight, male, middle class person - that I was always seeing people that looked like me not only in the world but also on TV. Jarrad didn’t have that. With a mum from Christmas Island and a Dad from Malaysia - the phrase ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’ was very real for him growing up in Western Australia. Today we speak about what life was like growing up where he did - his path to becoming a professional photographer, and indeed what affect instagram is having on us as a society. Then somewhere around the 1/2 way mark we start talking about Survivor. If you don’t know what survivor is - as far as I’m concerned it’s probably the greatest game invented by people. Part hunger-games, part battle of the minds, it’s an incredible exploration to the nature of humans in the face of adversity. If you’ve never watched an episode - it’s more than just shirtless dudes throwing coconuts through a hoop - it’s so much more. It’s like the hardest game of chess you can imagine, combined with the back-channeling and politics of a climate-summit, mixed with the toughest crossfit class you’ve ever taken, while living in the outdoors in a way that would make Bear Grylls wish for a sleeping bag.  I’m grateful that Jarrad made the time to come on the podcast, and since we recorded this - we’ve both attended the finale show - and let me tell you, it’s going to blow the roof off when you see who wins. So without any further delay, come to a hotel room in Sydney where my family is living while the bathrooms in our apartment are being renovated, and enjoy this conversation with Jarrad Seng. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.