

Mere Mortals Conversations
Kyrin Down & Juan Granados
What is Effective Philosophy? Juan and I simplify hard to grasp concepts into pragmatic takeaways that can be applied to every day life (fitness, goal setting, work, parenting, travel, hobbies, finances, etc.,).
Episodes
Mentioned books

Nov 4, 2020 • 31min
The NXIVM Cult (Episode #108 - Musings)
Where is the boundary point that separates a cult from a self-development type 'success program'? In this episode of 'Musings' Juan and Kyrin discuss: Juan recanting on previously strongly held position that The Social Dilemma was bullcrap, taking small actions of integrity in the micro-level, the cruel voice in your head and how to have compassion for it, a discussion on the NXIVM cult and the type of mindset required to be fooled so convincingly, joining Wim Hof's breathing cult (if he makes one!), the Turing Test and whether it would be easier to fool humans in different countries due to the structure of their language, how the Mere Mortals would fool the killer-robots before ending off with a little milestone celebration for ourselves. As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!Timeline:0:00 - Intro & Mere Mortal Moments2:20 - Juan clarifying his position on 'The Social Dilemma'5:09 - Seeing beyond the micro to the macro message8:03 - The importance of integrity in the small details13:28 - The cruel voice in your head19:38 - Joining the breathing cult21:08 - Can AI trick us easier in the Turing Test in different languages?25:20 - How the Mere Mortals can tell if you are really human28:40 - Celebrating hitting 100 subscribers (twice!!)About Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Daily uploads @ 5pm AEST. 4M's, Book Reviews, Musings, Bonus, Themed Podcast, Interviews & Meanderings.Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

Nov 2, 2020 • 2min
Be Honest With Yourself - 4M's #43
Mere Mortals is built on the foundation of striving for excellence through life's lessons and one of the critical ways to do that.. is to be honest with yourself.As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!About Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Daily uploads @ 5pm AEST. 4M's, Book Reviews, Musings, Bonus, Meanderings, Interviews & Themed Podcast.Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_mediaFacebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

Nov 1, 2020 • 40min
Running Into A Kangaroo (Episode #107 - Meanderings)
What has been your scariest moment in life? In this episode of 'Meanderings' Juan and Kyrin discuss: how Kyrin went about creating his Halloween costume for Dora The Explorer, what movies scare the Mere Mortals and their scariest moments in life, the experience of driving into a kangaroo at 80 kmph, the experience of being in Mexico for the Day of The Dead, a philosophical question about punishing people for not helping out or doing the right thing, global connectedness and how bad it would really be to have your persona stolen online. As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!Timeline:0:00 - Scary intro & Mere Mortal Moments2:43 - Dora The Explorer: Serial Killer8:10 - Juan in a Minion10:09 - The scariest movie ever13:58 - Running into a kangaroo18:30 - Dia de Los Muertos in Mexico23:01 - Should we punish people for inaction?30:22 - Would war be harder because we are globally connected?33:05 - Impersonating people online and Only Fans38:04 - Halloween Edition endingAbout Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Daily uploads @ 5pm AEST. 4M's, Book Reviews, Musings, Bonus, Themed Podcast, Interviews & Meanderings.Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

Oct 31, 2020 • 54min
NIC BLAIR | Mere Mortals Interview #025
Do you want to delve into the mindset of an entrepreneur running two companies at the same time? Nic Blair was the Australian Young Entrepreneur of 2019, founder of Search Factory and cofounder of Brus Media. In this interview Juan and Nic discuss his starting from humble beginnings/early failures and the mindset (and work ethic) that is required to grow a successful business. Nic also has a passion for cars and shares some of his current play toys and visions for future acquisitions.Also in this conversation where: Nic's two most influential books, his fitness regime and experiences with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, using happiness as a superpower for overcoming stress/pressure, his role models and the traits they exhibit as well as the ability to look forward while dealing with adversity. As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!Timeline:0:00 - Introduction1:08 - Nic's Mere Mortal Moment3:14 - The entrepreneur mindset and early failures8:20 - Looking forward to persevere12:19 - Nic's business journey16:48 - Car's and motorbikes23:09 - Keeping loose and happiness superpower33:07 - Hard work and effort36:19 - Moving on from what's not working38:42 - BJJ and fitness43:18 - Influential books45:56 - Goal setting and accountability49:12 - Role models and the future53:31 - Reach out to NicConnect with Nic:https://au.linkedin.com/in/nic-blairhttps://www.instagram.com/itsnicblair/About Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Daily uploads @ 5pm AEST. 4M's, Book Reviews, Musings, Bonus, Themed Podcast, Interviews & Meanderings.Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

Oct 30, 2020 • 1h 6min
How To Cultivate Self-Discipline (Episode #106 - Discipline)
Do you struggle to hold yourself accountable and do what is the right thing? In this themed episode Juan and Kyrin discuss the topic of 'Discipline'. The crew start off as usual with the MMM's/definition before diving into whether the concept is something that they think about often in their day to day life. For Kyrin it has a bit too much of a negative connotation and he prefers to use other language, whereas Juan constantly uses it to motivate himself to do the hard things even while tired or stressed out.Also included in the conversation were: some tips/tricks of how to cultivate discipline, the difference between moderating something enjoyable but damaging versus something unenjoyable but healthy, the additional concept of 'willpower' and how it is similar but different from discipline, intrinsic motivation and why neither of the Mere Mortals like to reward themselves with treats, some hypotheticals on just how tyrannical they would be as parents before summing up everything in a neat little bow. As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!Timeline:0:00 - Intro & Mere Mortal Moments3:17 - Reason for topic and definition/etymology7:05 - Is the concept of self-discipline useful16:29 - Stopping bad things (vices)26:09 - Ways to be disciplined27:22 - Willpower vs discipline33:11 - Harder to moderate a pleasure or cultivate a habit?36:10 - Don't wait for it to feel right38:52 - Intrinsic motivation and rewarding yourself with treats43:03 - How would you discipline your kids?48:45 - How to balance forgiving yourself vs flogging yourself52:17 - Calorie deficit & splurging54:26 - When is discipline harmful?58:07 - Generic, unhelpful advice1:01:37 - Regression to the mean1:04:49 - Looking sharp and tune in for moreAbout Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Daily uploads @ 5pm AEST. 4M's, Book Reviews, Musings, Bonus, Themed Podcast, Interviews & Meanderings.Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

Oct 29, 2020 • 19min
Talking Shit With Marty - Feat. Marty
For this short bonus conversation, Juan and Kyrin were joined by Marty for a little bit of talking shit and reminiscing. This was a little bit of an experimental conversation so the audio and video quality might be at a true Mere Mortals level. Touched upon in this convo were: the deceptive smallness of the Mere Mortals studio, exercise & breaking the rules, some memories of Brisbane's party scene from the 90's, the changes of technology on the past/future and some contrarian views that the gang hold. As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!Timeline:0:00 - The inside of the warehouse0:53 - Working out and breaking the rules.2:27 - Brisbane in the 1990's6:44 - The sexual market before the invention of smart phones7:58 - Extremely contrarian views that we hold11:11 - Travel and coronavirus restrictions14:01 - Feeling young and not needing sleep15:34 - Technology is going to be hugeAbout Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Daily uploads @ 5pm AEST. 4M's, Book Reviews, Musings, Bonus, Themed Podcast, Interviews & Meanderings.Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

Oct 28, 2020 • 31min
Are Classic Books Any Good? (Episode #105 - Musings)
Is it worth reading classical books in today's day and age? In this episode of 'Musings' Juan and Kyrin discuss: that bitch Tina who is in every workplace, how the shit talk you throw out immediately comes back round and bites you, Kyrin's learning from spending time out and about with friends, mindsets/running/planning, before finishing up with some interesting experiments that have been done on rhyming, priming and whether we have free will.Timeline:0:00 - Intro & Mere Mortal Moments2:17 - Needing to vent about bitches at work4:14 - Life will spit right in your face5:00 - Are you spending your time in a productive way?9:15 - Are classic books all they are cracked up to be?17:44 - The problem with 'fake it til you make it'19:13 - Running 10 km for the first time21:18 - When you fail to plan, you plan to fail24:14 - The power of rhyming26:03 - Playing mind games27:56 - Touching upon determinism and free will30:08 - Comment on the book reviewsAs always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!About Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Daily uploads @ 5pm AEST. 4M's, Book Reviews, Musings, Bonus, Themed Podcast, Interviews & Meanderings.Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

Oct 26, 2020 • 2min
The Buy In - 4M's #42
The buy in, attributed in some forms to the Crossfit term for something you must complete before the main workout, can be expanded across further realms as a way to form habits.As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!About Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Daily uploads @ 5pm AEST. 4M's, Book Reviews, Musings, Bonus, Meanderings, Interviews & Themed Podcast.Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_mediaFacebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

Oct 25, 2020 • 31min
Dodgy Stock Market & Corruption (Episode #104 - Meanderings)
How much corruption actually goes on in the stock market? In this episode of 'Meanderings' Juan and Kyrin discuss: getting older and the way you take care of yourself after a big night out, instances of dodginess and corruption amongst different companies and countries, getting decent REM sleep for less hours of actual sleeping, running barefoot and little kids needing orthopaedics, humans not getting enough roughage and the need to eat glass (joking!!) and our new camera acquisition.Timeline:0:00 - Intro & Mere Mortal Moments3:24 - How would you attack the next day after a big night out?10:08 - Dodgy stock market and corruption18:58 - Juan's sleeping patterns20:47 - Why Juan dislikes rowing23:41 - Running barefoot26:28 - Eating glass and breaking teeth29:21 - 4k camera gloryAs always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!About Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Daily uploads @ 5pm AEST. 4M's, Book Reviews, Musings, Bonus, Themed Podcast, Interviews & Meanderings.Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

Oct 24, 2020 • 35min
CHRISSIE JUNGE | Mere Mortals Interview # 024
Could you live in a van/truck for 4 years of your life? Chrissie Junge is a soon to be author as well as the Brisbane Girl In A Van. Chrissie packed in traditional housing in favour of a bare metal delivery truck, and lived around Brisbane’s greenery in its rough truck bed while slowly teaching herself to build it into a comfortable tiny house.In this conversation Juan and Kyrin asked Chrissie all of their accumulated questions of living out of a van and becoming a children's author. These included: that first night experience in the new style of living, practical matters of storage and liveability, challenges and highlights of living in her truck, how to write a children's book and spreading her message of the value of family/home. As always, we hope you enjoy! Mere Mortals out.Timeline:0:00 - Introduction0:56 - Chrissie's Mere Mortal Moment2:01 - The beginnings of moving into a van6:53 - The awful first night11:17 - Storage space and van life enthusiasts16:23 - Biggest challenge of living in a truck18:56 - Writing a children's book23:31 - The value & importance of family and home27:24 - Transitioning to living in a house33:00 - The speed of Harry the truck34:24 - Find Chrissie's book and interact with herConnect With Chrissie:https://www.chrissiejunge.com/https://www.instagram.com/brisbanegirlinavan/https://www.facebook.com/chrissiejungeauthor/https://twitter.com/chrissie_jungeAbout Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Daily uploads @ 5pm AEST. 4M's, Book Reviews, Musings, Bonus, Themed Podcast, Interviews & Meanderings.Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show


