Make It Count

Following on from our discussion from last week we're continuing to look at mental health. The World Health Organization reports that approximately 5% of adults worldwide suffer from depression, 1 in 20 people!  Depression is complex and it doesn't have a simple cause. Today we're discussing some research from the University of Cambridge that looks at the relative influence of our D...

Anxiety and depression are something we don’t shy away from talking about anymore, and whilst it is a good thing to move past the shame and stigma there’s growing evidence that some of the widespread solutions to tackle the mental health crisis are backfiring and making things worse.  This week we’re looking at a thought provoking article in the NY Times by By Darby Saxbe, of the University of Sou...

 Why is it that in a digitally connected world we feel so emotionally alone?  This week we're looking loneliness, it has been called a public health concern and is  ironically a fairly universal experience. So, what can we learn, and what can we do? In this episode we ask:  What's the difference between objectively being alone and the subjective experience of loneliness?  Do we just need...

We're back with another book review! This time we're unpacking Bruce Feiler's excellent "Life Is In The Transitions - Mastering Change at Any Age." We no longer live linear lives and sometimes things come along which disrupt our life and make us question the story we thought we were living. Check out our conversation as we discuss what Bruce learned after he experienced a...

Should we all go back to working from the office? Is it better to work from home? What about hybrid?  Are these even the right questions? The pursuit of work life balance is fatally flawed according to the results of a survey of over 5000 people.  ( Check out the article that inspired this episode: here ) We know that  wellbeing is holistic. No-one talks about health - life balance, or community -...

This week we're discussing the intriguing idea of what tomorrow owes you based on your yesterdays. Thanks to a quote we both independently highlighted from one of our favourite fiction authors.  “Tomorrow owes you the sum of your yesterdays. No more than that…  And no less. Sometimes folk wish tomorrow did not pay them off so completely.”  - Robin Hobb, The Mad Ship Send us a Message via &quo...

They say there’s three things you don’t talk about at a dinner party: Religion, politics and death. Well we recommend that you best not play this episode at a dinner party then!  Many of us live in what some have called a "first half of life" culture, we celebrate the young and beautiful. Yet despite our attempts to ignore it and pretend we're going to live forever  death is an unav...

The world is noisier and busier than ever, and this week we’re having a conversation about Ryan Holiday’s helpful book where he argues for stillness in three key areas: Stillness of the mind,  Stillness of the soul, and  Stillness of the body. So grab a cup of tea (or coffee), get yourself comfortable and enjoy listening as we play with this radical idea of stillness in a restless world. Send us a...

We believe in both the power and the joy of reading. Yet apparently the average person reads only 4 books a year*.  Join us this week as we discuss why many of us find it difficult to read more even though we know it is good for us. If you find yourself thinking “I wish I could read more books” then we’ve got a treat for you, inspired by an article giving 7 ways to read more books this year.  Read...

Mindset matters, it can set the tone of our days and the energy that we bring to life. It is all too easy to settle into negative patterns of thinking and talking, the language we use (or think in) influences us significantly and can either keep us stuck or be a tool to help us live by design.  As we start out the new year we’re exploring three important mindset shifts that will help us to make it...

Your mindset matters, it can set the tone of your day and the energy that you bring to life. It is all too easy to settle into negative patterns of thinking and talking, the language you use (or think in) influences you significantly. It can either keep you stuck in default or be a tool to help you live by design.  As we start out the new year we’re exploring three important mindset shifts that wi...

Our mindset matters, it can set the tone of our days and the energy that we bring to life. It is all too easy to settle into negative patterns of thinking and talking, the language we use (or think in) influences us significantly and can either keep us stuck or be a tool to help us live by design.  As we start out the new year we’re exploring three important mindset shifts that will help us to mak...

New Year! Fresh starts, new resolutions, the days getting longer! Cold nights, old habits reappearing, the dark days of winter lingering long beyond their welcome... New year can be a time we look forward to with hope and anticipation of what may come, or a time we dread with a sense of foreboding, as we look back on a hard year and wonder will next year really be any better? Life can often feel l...

This episode was inspired by a quote from Arthur Schopenhauer (a philosopher and author): “You may accumulate a vast amount of knowledge but it will be of far less value to you than a much smaller amount if you have not thought it over for yourself; because only through ordering what you know by comparing every truth with every other truth can you take complete possession of your knowledge and get...

It’s not only Jedi that can use the force... Every object exerts a “habit force field” that tells us what to do with it.  This week we’re unpacking how the objects around us influence our actions and asking: "Are we powerless or can we make our environment work for us? This episode is based on a fascinating article that David read (no surprises there), sent to Matt who took a long time gettin...

We live in a world where we are constantly pushed towards rush, hurry and distraction.  We're all familiar with the unconscious reaction to pull out our phone whenever we're faced with any delay or a  moment's pause. We tend to fill any empty space.  What does this have to do with waiting? There is joy to be found in the anticipation of what we're waiting for, but when we distr...

Today we're discussing Andy Crouch’s book 'The Life We're Looking For' looking at what it looks like to reclaim relationship in a technological world. This book is so deep and rich, it cuts to the heart of some of the trends which were centuries in the making that have made our modern world what it is.  With every revolution and technological advancement there are always huge b...

Today we're talking about the power of an attitude of gratitude! Check out the article mentioned here Here's three gratitude practices and some questions Matt found relating to gratitude: List five small ways that you can share your gratitude today. Write a letter to someone who has positively impacted your life, however big or small. Write about a person in your life that you’re especia...

This week we're facing head on a difficult topic. Confrontation. It seems that what we're seeing now is a growing tendency of people avoiding confrontation. Both in the workplace and in personal relationships. We've all heard of the term 'ghosting' perhaps you've been ghosted, maybe you've ghosted someone yourself. This week we're looking at the cost of avoi...

What is failure? What could it look like to make it count towards something? This week we're discussing failing, falling, taking responsibility and refusing to give up. Simon Sinek: Choose Falling over failing Poem:  The Race by Dr. D.H. “Dee” Groberg  Send us a Message via "Fan Mail" (What is there to lose?) Watch the latest episodes on YouTube . ___________________________________...

What does it look like to make a holiday count?  It depends on what you want and need from the holiday (Gotta start with "Why?") This week we’re talking holidays whilst taking a holiday! (Quite literally recorded on a windy balcony in Spain. Matt did his best to clean up the audio!) Send us a Message via "Fan Mail" (What is there to lose?) Watch the latest episodes on YouTube ....

 Humans have been telling stories for as long as history can remember. Steve Jobs said that "The storyteller is the most powerful person." This week we’re looking at why we find stories so compelling, and asking what is the power of a story? What makes the story teller so powerful? A story shapes the way we see the world, it changes our experience of reality. Perhaps the saying should go...

This week we're discussing technology, A.I. and considering how the Luddites are perhaps more relevant today than ever before. Weren't the Luddites against technology and progress? So what could we learn from them in today’s technological world? Well... actually a lot! According to Brian Merchant. In his new book, Blood in the Machine, they weren’t against technological advancement, but...

Giving praise can be a powerful motivator, but there are some pitfalls to look out for.  Not only does generic, surface level praise fail to motivate, but today we're talking about a key idea from some training David recently took.  Some research has shown that if you praise someone for something they find easy, they won't respect you. Instead they'll think you have really low stand...

On the back of episode 106 where we spoke about the 25:5 rule (famously attributed to Warren Buffet) today we're talking about a something called the Buffet formula: Go to bed a little smarter each day. In a nutshell: Learn something today. How can we do that? What does that look like? What are different ways that we can learn and get smarter? Here's the article that inspired this episod...