The You Project

Chris Bailey is a Canadian writer and productivity consultant, and the author of The Productivity Project (2016), Hyperfocus (2018) and How to Calm Your Mind (2022). It took an on-stage panic attack for Chris to recognise how critical it is for us to invest in calm at the same time as we invest in becoming more productive. Productivity advice works - and we need it now more than ever -but it’s just as vital that we develop our capacity for calm. By finding calm and overcoming anxiety, we don’t just feel more comfortable in our own mind, we build a deeper, more expansive reservoir of energy to draw from throughout the day. The pursuit of calm ultimately leads us to become more engaged, focused, and deliberate, while leading to deeper satisfaction in our lives. chrisbailey.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Helen Zahos is a Humanitarian, Emergency Nurse and Paramedic who has volunteered in disaster areas around the world and has cared for some of the world’s most vulnerable people. She has volunteered in Iraq in IDP Camps, in Nepal after the earthquake and Philippines after the Typhoon, as well as assisting during the Syrian refugee crisis on the border of Greece and more recently, she has travelled to the war-torn Ukraine. Helen is funny, passionate, kind and obviously, more courageous than me. Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Old Mate David Gillespie (my fortnightly nemesis), has just published an article on substack.com titled ‘Dopamine Dilemma: Unravelling the ADHD Epidemic and Our Reliance on Medication'. This fascinating story (focusing largely on the most successful Olympian of all time – Michael Phelps) is the stepping off point for our conversation. Enjoy. Dopamine Dilemma: Unraveling the ADHD Epidemic and Our Reliance on MedicationSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1967 after 74 successful combat missions over Vietnam, Fighter Pilot Captain Charlie Plumb was shot down in his F-4 Phantom jet. On his 75th mission, only 5 days before he was to return home. Captured, brutally tortured and imprisoned in the Hanoi Hilton where Charlie remained a prisoner of war for the next 6 years. I know I say this too often but this conversation was truly fascinating and Charlie is an incredible human with a story that’s hard to comprehend, and at times, listen to. He endured more hardship and suffering every single day for six years, than I’ve endured in all my days collectively.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1967 after 74 successful combat missions over Vietnam, Fighter Pilot Captain Charlie Plumb was shot down in his F-4 Phantom jet. On his 75th mission, only 5 days before he was to return home. Captured, brutally tortured and imprisoned in the Hanoi Hilton where Charlie remained a prisoner of war for the next 6 years. I know I say this too often but this conversation was truly fascinating and Charlie is an incredible human with a story that’s hard to comprehend, and at times, listen to. He endured more hardship and suffering every single day for six years, than I’ve endured in all my days collectively.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Adam Mastroianni is a postdoctoral research scholar at Columbia Business School who studies how people perceive and misperceive their social worlds, from the person sitting across the table to the broader community buzzing around them. He writes a great blog (I checked it out) called Experimental History, is a stand-up comic, a Harvard Graduate and I think even he’d admit that he’s kind of a quirky academic-comedian-philosopher hybrid. This conversation was about as loose, freestyle and entertaining as you can get with a post-doctoral researcher. Enjoy.  Twitter: a_m_mastroianniexperimental-history.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Your body is always talking to you. Trying to make you aware of something and keep you informed. It could be whispering “please get me out of this chair for ten minutes” or it might be screaming “if you don’t stopping eating crap, you’ll f***ing kill me before my time!” In this episode of TYP, Dietician, Exercise Physiologist , Owner of ‘Be Fit Food’, Corporate Speaker, award winning Business Woman and all-round under-achiever Kate Save drops by and we chat all-things food, exercise, personal responsibility, genetic optimisation, bio-age and being awesome as we get older. befitfood.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is not another conversation about the mind. Or thinking. Or beliefs. Or subjective reality. No, it’s a conversation about the 1.3kg physical organ that resides in your skull. Did you know that you can improve the health and function of your brain by walking faster? And laughing more? And being properly hydrated? And standing up straight? Did you know there’s a powerful relationship between gut health and brain health? Or that brains typically start to shrink at around forty but there’s a way for you and I to be ‘atypical’? Did you know that there’s a relationship between your balance (speaking actual physical balance here) and your ‘brain age’? This was a fun chat with Dr. Marc Milstein, who is an internationally recognised speaker on optimising brain health, lowering the risk of dementia, and boosting happiness and productivity. Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As someone who spent way too many years losing and gaining weight and fat and alternating between healthy and destructive behaviours, I have great interest in, and vast personal experience with, this topic. Also, as an Exercise Scientist and Trainer working with many others who were just like me, this is a question I’ve considered for years. This episode will be relevant (and maybe even helpful) for many of you. Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In part two of my conversation with Melissa, she asks me the following questions.. (7) Why do you think anxiety is such an epidemic at the moment? (8) Can we overcome our ‘programming’ (and do we need to)? (9) Do you feel more like a teacher or student - what are your percentages? (10) What are your thoughts about ‘retirement’? (11) Why are you so fascinated with human potential? (12) As a never-been married person, what are your thoughts about marriage?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.