The You Project

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.drjilltaylor.comWhole Brain LivingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.theselfhelpantidote.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.Website: davidgillespie.orgFacebook: David GillespieSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.