A New Way of Being

We are all aware of 'competitive sports parent' syndrome. It is a phenomenon I discussed with Gary Lineker - speaking about football specifically. Fair to say he's not a fan! YouTube : https://tinyurl.com/YouTubeSimonMundie Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simonmundie/ For the ' Mundie on Monday ' newsletter - head to simonmundie.com Please do share this episode - it makes a big difference in...

How can you get what you really want? You may think it is the job, the relationship, the house or the substance you want - but fundamentally we all desire to be happy and feel fulfilled, and to avoid suffering. How we believe we will get those will differ for all of us. How then do we give ourselves the best chance of getting what we want, in any area of life? This week's conversation is with Ben...

Thinking Correctly under Pressure. Who doesn’t want – or need – to be able to do that? TCUP – as Clive calls it – was fundamental in helping England win the rugby World Cup twenty years ago. Clive shares a couple of recent examples of how this works from sport and his own life. Really it’s about envisaging how things might go – so that when challenges arise, as they always do in life, you have con...

Want to know how to get your nervous system back into a state of relaxation and calm? TRE is a powerful, simple and effective way to release stress and tension from your body. My guest is the its creator, David Berceli. Both humans and animals alike are born with a biological stress response known as “fight or flight”. We are also born with a natural trembling capacity that enables us to discharge...

It is easy to take credit for our successes, and look down on others for their 'failings', without acknowledging the huge number of interrelated factors and events that first had to happen for them to come into being. We don’t choose our parents, our genetics, our personality traits, our talents, the time and place where we are born, or the experiences that shape us. If we really consider all of t...

"Neuroscience research shows that the only way we can change the way we feel is by becoming aware of our inner experience and learning to befriend what is going on inside us" Dr Bessel van der Kolk is a titan in the world of trauma research. He’s the author of the seminal best-selling book about trauma -  The Body Keeps the Score - which has been published in 38 languages and read by millions of p...

If you are not open to new experiences, and stepping out of your comfort zone, you may miss out on some of your own discovering deep-seated passions and talents. One person who illustrates this brilliantly is the triathlon legend Chrissie Wellington, who was crowned Ironman world Champion on four occasions – despite only turning pro at the relatively ripe age of 30. She took a meandering route to...

This episode is all about the importance of diverse thinking. Matthew Syed explains how the FA embraced diversity off the pitch, which contributed to success on it, and how the tragedy of 9/11 could have been avoided had the CIA been less collectively blind because of a lack of cultural diversity. It's to do with 'homophily', which is our tendency to bond with people who are socially similar. And...

Do you feel a subtle sense of lack? If you do, you are not alone. It’s part of the human condition – or at least it is when we are identified with the mind. But the truth is, there is a space in all of us that is always fulfilled and content. Our task is to recognise that – and rest there. Grayson Hart is the CEO and founder of Puresport, and is a former Scotland international rugby player, having...

'There is nothing either good or bad – only thinking makes it so'. Stoicism is described as the most practical of all philosophies – according to Ryan Holiday, best-selling author of classics including the Obstacle is the Way. I spoke to Ryan Holiday during the COVID pandemic – with a view to helping people not get overwhelmed by what was a very challenging time. Clearly things have now moved on,...

Why 'winning' can be overrated. Let's start with a quote from Jamie Carragher – 'it’s all about winning trophies really'. Well is that actually true? To dive into our cultural obsession with 'winners' and 'winning at all costs', I was joined by the silver medal winning Olympic rower and former diplomat turned business coach and author of the excellent book ‘the Long Win’ Cath Bishop. MyTwitter: ht...

This week I am joined by one of the greatest British athletes of all time, Seb Coe – a double Olympic gold medalist during the golden era of middle-distance running, the President of World Athletics, the driving force behind London’s winning Olympic bid in 2012, and much more besides. There’s so much we cover in this episode, from using early setbacks as fuel later in life, through to his epic Oly...

At a time when all the knowledge in the world is little more than a mouse click away – the importance of learning how to learn is key. And one person who was a pass master was the late Anders Ericsson – who was best known for his work on deliberate practice and whose research led to the widely misconstrued '10,000 hours' rule popularised by Malcolm Gladwell. So this was Anders – talking all about...

"The two great risks are risking too much but also risking too little. That's for each person to decide. For me, not risking anything is worse than death. By far." - Jimmy Chin Jimmy is a pro climber, skier, photographer and Oscar winning Film director. The theme of this episode is about following your heart and taking risks. Committing to a path and working it out along the way. Jimmy picked up t...

Sometimes, what you need to survive and thrive in challenging times is age old wisdom. And my guest this week is full of it. Paul McGee – speaker and Sunday Times best selling author –has sold over a quarter of a million books, and spoken in more than 40 countries to date. He’s an expert in things like dealing with change, developing relationships, creating opportunies and performing under pressur...

So many of us are struggling to focus and pay attention to what we need to. It can feel like a moral failing – as if there is something wrong with us individually. But Johann Hari argues that is not the case. The problem runs much deeper. Teenagers now focus on one task for only 65 seconds he says, while office workers aren’t much better – managing only three minutes. It won’t surprise you to hear...

Often people think to achieve what they want in life is about finding a magic bullet, but as World Cup winning coach Sir Clive Woodward explains – frequently it’s just about understanding the basics. Those things you absolutely have to get right to succeed in a particular project or goal. This might sound obvious – but actually it turns out it is incredibly common for people within teams, business...

What does success mean? Is the 'winner and losers' narrative too simplistic? Tim Henman reached six major tennis semi-finals - four at Wimbledon - and was ranked fourth in the world. And yet, in some quarters, there is a view that somehow Tim didn't deliver. If that were true, then almost all of us are failures. In this episode, we talk about exploring your potential, rather than setting a goal an...

Everyone is familiar with the phrase 'there are too few hours in the day' but one of my previous guests proved that emphatically wrong. In 2019 Jasmine Paris won the 268 mile Spine race – unquestionably one of the toughest endurance events in the world. Not only did Jasmine become the first woman to win the race, she smashed the men’s course record by 12 hours. Jasmine juggles her ultra running wi...

How to transcend needless suffering & discover true happiness - with 'the Mind Architect' Above everything else, people want to feel happy – and to experience freedom from suffering. It’s not the car, the promotion or the relationship we really want – it’s the happiness we believe we will derive from it. But what if the very act of seeking happiness is exactly what is stopping us from experien...

Are you a human being – or a human doing? Bill Beswick is one of the world’s most respected sports psychologists, having worked at Manchester United during Sir Alex Ferguson’s dominant reign as manager. Roy Keane and Gary Neville are among those who credited Bill with making a real difference to their ability to perform at the top. I talked to Bill during the covid pandemic – and he spoke about ho...

When I was the sports reporter for BBC Radio 1 for 8 years, I spent a lot of time talking to and hearing from an exhaustive list of Premier League managers. One of them stood out above the rest for entertainment value – and that was Ian Holloway when he was in charge of Blackpool FC. Ian Holloway is clearly a naturally funny man – and he also has a depth and emotional sensitivity that you can’t he...

There’s no doubt that meditation is good for body and mind, but a lot of people struggle with it. Perhaps they don’t think they’re doing it right – or just can’t turn it into a habit. But meditation is undoubtedly a hugely valuable habit to develop, and the research on its benefits is vast. And here to talk about the simple 'how-tos' of mindfulness meditation – is Headspace founder and former Budd...

Perfectionism is often seen as a desirable trait in modern society. But, the reality is, it leads to procrastination - and mental health issues like depression, anxiety, and burnout. In a world that celebrates the idea of your 'Best Self', and always being better than you were yesterday – this conversation is about considering a healthier approach, one that acknowledges we are fine as we are now,...

How often do we spend time continually looking to the future – while overlooking how far we have already come? Dr Dame Katherine Grainger is Britain’s most decorated female Olympian. She won rowing gold at London 2012 and silver at four other Olympic Games. We spoke about reflecting back on how far you’ve come – as well as what perseverance is all about ** MyTwitter: https://twitter.com/simonmundi...