Inside Rylan’s Mind

I built a simple Excel habit tracker and slowly turned it into a full RPG system with XP, levels, ranks, milestones, and weighted scoring. What started as a clean way to track habits became an over-engineered game design experiment where I spent more time balancing progression than actually doing the habits. Eventually I realized I liked building the system more than using it, scrapped the whole t...

For most of my life, I didn't know how to wash clothes. Then hostel life forced me into a bizarre journey involving possessed washing machines, a laundry company monopoly, missing clothes, broken zips, a two-month search for a lost hanky, and eventually learning how to do laundry myself. In this episode, I share the surprisingly chaotic story of how one of the most basic adult life skills fina...

A few years ago, a stock app created an offshore bank account for me. I forgot it even existed until the bank introduced a minimum balance policy, forcing me to close an account I no longer used. What should have been a simple request turned into a 50-day saga involving a dormant account, re-KYC, cancelled cheques, endless emails, customer service limbo, and far too much mental bandwidth for an ac...

I stumbled across a tier list containing over a hundred personality traits and started ranking them based on how attractive I find them in a potential partner. What began as a silly internet exercise quickly turned into a deeper question: what do our preferences actually reveal about us? In this episode, I explore the traits that instantly draw me in, the ones that push me away, the contradictions...

For the first 23 years of my life, I had never driven a vehicle. Then I decided to get both my bike and car license, and what I expected to be a straightforward process somehow turned into a full-blown saga. From choosing a driving school and studying hundreds of learner's license questions, to dealing with RTO bureaucracy, failing my bike test spectacularly, accidentally turning on windshield...

In this episode, I talk about going to my first ever Comic-Con alone after years of wanting to attend one. What started as a spontaneous decision turned into something much bigger: an unexpected deep dive into nerd culture, comic book history, collectibles, cosplay, and the realization that I might care about this world far more than I thought. From missed buses and overpriced food to buying my fi...

I basically talk about the part of tracking your life nobody warns you about, not the tracking itself, but building the actual system behind it. The templates, layouts, rules, formulas, workflows… all that. I realised making a tracker that’s actually useful and User-friendly is weirdly hard. Every time I “fixed” one thing, something else broke. Then came the endless testing, redesigning, finding e...

I talk about how I track habits, workouts, sleep, food, body weight, expenses, media and more using apps + Excel sheets. I share real stats, surprising patterns, progress made, and why data might be one of the best tools for self-improvement. If you’ve ever wondered where your time, money or effort actually goes, this one’s for you. Check out my other work: https://linktr.ee/rylanbanis

I went into this New Year’s party thinking I might either kill it or completely flop… and somehow I did both. I start off unsure, end up owning the crowd, accidentally become the DJ, and then slowly lose control of the entire night to chaos I couldn’t really fight. Somewhere between running the show and sitting outside alone before midnight, I’m just thinking, did I actually enjoy this, or did I j...

This episode is basically me going through a tier list of 80+ random pet peeves and deciding which ones are just mildly annoying and which ones make me irrationally angry for no reason. Somewhere in between, I also realize I do some of the same things I hate, which is… not great. It’s chaotic, a little judgmental, slightly self-exposing, and mostly just me thinking out loud about the weird, specif...

This episode is a reflection on what 4,000 liked songs actually represent, not taste, not curation, but a living timeline of moments, moods, and phases. I talk about how I “like” music generously, how Spotify quietly became a background constant in my life, and how its algorithms seem to mirror (and sometimes manipulate) my emotions with unsettling accuracy. From rebuilding my library after deleti...

After 190+ episodes of talking, reflecting, and overanalyzing relationships, I’m trying something different, ranking red flags and green flags in a tier list format. But instead of blindly labeling behaviors as “good” or “bad,” this episode questions what those labels even mean. Which traits are actually dealbreakers? Which are context-dependent? And how much of this is personal bias versus univer...

In this episode, I share the story of a family outing to a hyped-up café that felt way too fancy for us the moment we walked in. What started as a simple dinner turned into a chain of mix-ups, missing orders, wrong dishes, and awkward moments at the table. The food surprised me, the service confused me, and the whole night made me realize how strange expensive dining experiences can feel when you...

In this episode, I talk about how I found out I have a sunlight allergy, something I didn’t even know was a real condition until my skin started reacting every time I stepped outside in the daytime. From random itching during college walks, to self-diagnosing through weird experiments, to finally getting a formal confirmation from a dermatologist, this episode traces the whole journey of how I wen...

In this episode, I share the story of getting scammed on a rickshaw ride, more than double the usual fare, while navigating the absurdity of being lost on a back-alley maze and talking it out live with my mom. From meters turned off to unexpected shortcuts, and a driver so bold he even tried to ask for extra money at the end, this ride becomes a lesson in patience, frustration, and human audacity....

After a two-year break from podcasting due to studies, I’m finally back behind the mic. In this episode, I talk about what the break felt like, why I stepped away, and what it feels like to return. I also look back at the evolution of the podcast from constant rebrands and changing formats to experimenting with stories, self-help ideas, and thought experiments. I walk through the behind-the-scenes...

In this episode, I break down the semester where I intentionally became “that student” front bench, 100% attendance, handwritten notes, real questions, no shortcuts, no ChatGPT copy-paste, constant professor engagement, and what happened as a result. I talk about how internal and external grading systems actually work, how front-loaded effort reduces exam stress, and how genuine curiosity makes le...

This episode is about a small hostel memory that stuck with me for oddly long. In my second year, there was this guy who would sing loudly in the shared bathroom, not just songs, but even the random dialogue bits from music videos, completely unbothered by the fact that other humans existed. What started as something I found hilarious slowly turned into something more interesting: why do most of u...

In Part 3 of the “How to Not Use Money” series, I dive into something that has increasingly shaped the way I think about my life: Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE). This episode is less about tactics and more about conviction, why the idea of buying back my time resonates so deeply with me, how my approach to saving and investing has evolved to support that goal, and why FIRE feels less l...

In this episode, I talk about something oddly simple yet strangely memorable. Shaving for the first time. What started as just using a razor my dad gifted me turned into this weird mix of hesitation, curiosity, and unexpected satisfaction. I reflect on masculinity, independence, identity, and why removing a bit of facial hair somehow felt like a tiny rite of passage. It’s less about grooming and m...

After a two-year break spent pursuing a postgraduate degree, I’m back behind the mic to pick up where I left off. This episode dives into New Year’s resolutions, specifically the one I set for 2025 that I improbably followed for 365 straight days. Tracking every movie and TV show I consumed. We’ll unpack what that experiment revealed, how the tracker evolved, and why my growing collection of sprea...

In this episode, I share bittersweet news with my listeners as I embark on a journey to pursue my master's degree, leading to a temporary hiatus from podcasting. Join me as I discuss the challenges of living in a residential program with strict regulations and the potential impact on the podcast's future. Though I'll be away for a while, I'm hopeful about returning to the mic durin...

Join me as I reflect on why I ditched social media for over two years. I'll share how quitting boosted my podcast unexpectedly and changed my perspective on digital life. Plus, find out why I recently dipped my toes back into Reddit. If you're curious about life beyond the scroll, this episode is for you!

Join me as I revisit my wild spending habits and quirky money stories from a few years ago to see how my relationship with money has evolved. I'll share how I transformed from a reckless spender to a more mindful saver and whether I've kicked my materialistic habits. Let's explore how my saving strategies have changed and the valuable life lessons I've learned about money. Whether...

Join me as I recount the crazy experience of my laptop's Wi-Fi disappearing out of nowhere in Windows 11. I tried everything—reinstalling, troubleshooting with customer support, even driving to a service center—but nothing worked. Then, like magic, the Wi-Fi started working again when I got to the service center! Come along for the ride as I share the ups and downs of this tech mystery and how...