The Hope Initiative

"I probably didn't rely on that in my twenties, early thirties... When you embark on the journey of becoming a parent and you are looking to other people, but you haven't really questioned what your own values and beliefs are before you ask advice from other people. So, I think to sort of trust your own wisdom from an earlier age is probably something that I would say to my younger se...

"Do you want to know what I was doing the last two Valentines days in a row? I drank a full bottle of red, ate spaghetti and passed out on the couch, both years. In seperate houses in Leeds. It was great." Episode #41 of The Hope Initiative with my brother, Daniel MacDonald Excited to finally be able to share this episode. In it Dan and I discuss; Love What he wanted to do when he grew u...

"The insidious thing about drug addiction is that drugs absolutely work as a solution. They take us out of our current situations. They give us a means to tamper down our problems. They are a means of escape. They absolutely work for a long time - almost 20 years in my case. But when drugs fail as a solution, they often fail catastrophically..." Episode #40 of The Hope Initiative with Ed...

"I was nervous, but I wasn't afraid of getting beat because I'd done everything I could starting with watching those two games to prepare for it. I stood there and went, 'Wow! I cannot believe I am standing next to arguably the greatest player ever to play the game'. And I grew up in the South Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne... It's quite, when you look at it like that, it&#3...

"I'm actually grateful that I didn't get a diagnosis because I know women, couples, who are going through hell because they get the diagnosis and they start to freak out, and then it goes one of two ways... You either freak out, and that would make the fear of the unknown overpower the experience, or they're very embracing of it, but I think I would have been the one to freak out...

"Life doesn't come easy for anyone... A lot of kids probably have the view that life's a walk in the park. Growing up, things would just be easy... You'll go to school and then you'll go have a job and you'll make money and have a house and whatever... But I suppose I always thought there are going to be obstacles. And that's probably the attitude I've had with eve...

"You've got one life. Born, bred, raised up in Melbourne. It's like, man, how boring would it be just to just stay in Melbourne your whole life? It's like you could live in any country you want for a a year, two years, five... How many years you've got on this planet? And so I definitely want to live in Thailand. And obviously I was saying before, I was planning to sort of go over there and maybe...

"Why are we going through this? We are way too young to go through this. You're not supposed to be part of the young widows club or anything like that, this is not supposed to happen. You take care of yourself and you just expect that everything's going to be fine. And then a lot of trauma surrounding what could have been... That was really tough. It was really hard to get through." Episode #35 wi...

"I don't need need University. I don't need my school exams. I signed a record company, I'm gonna go do what I want, I'm gonna go party. So I think irrelevant of anything happening with my family or with my mum, there was some sort of crash coming at some point. Because I hadn't grounded myself very well and I was immersed in all of the drugs and alcohol. But then to have...

"I reckon, we all experience moments of when we have self doubt. I think it's really important to know that if you are experiencing self doubt, you're not alone. That you're normal, but there are also things that you can do but one of the best things you can do is just be true to yourself. Not everyone's going to like you, but be true to yourself because a lot of people will a...

"What really kind of makes me tick, I think is being able to create something that's going to impact people and influence their lives in a small but meaningful way. I love the idea of that, the feedback you get from people who are listening to your music. Whether it be at a gig or a recording, it's really really cool. It's such a huge reason as to why I do music, for people."...

"Obviously not everything's going to be perfect and you're not going to do everything 100% right, all the time. But as long as the intentions there and the goodwills there and you put in the effort where you can and where you need to, then you'll hopefully make a difference to some people." Episode #31 of The Hope Initiative with Amy Malander Amy and I met back in 2006 whilst...

"When I was like 12, we'd be travelling around on the buses or the trains and I'd be looking but I'm not really paying attention to everything and taking it all in... Now I'm a bit older and i just really wanted to see it on my own and see how it would all pan out." Episode #30 of The Hope Initiative with Alex Dao Alex is a former team mate from Whitehorse United, the soc...

"Motivation is fake. It doesn't last. It's a fail-safe. That's where discipline comes in, because the day that motivation doesn't rock up, disciplines there to get you up. So when you're waking up in the morning you're not pumped to go get this day. You're like 'Fuck, is it really 4:00am already?' and that's for me as well... Motivation is great, don&#3...

"What's your name? - Semi. - How do you spell that? - S-E-M-I. Like a semi-trailer." It was 2011. The Knox City Football Clubs annual team photo for the senior and reserves sides. There I was, an 18 year old reserve team player with a shocking haircut (not much has changed there) on the fringes of senior football, and stood next to me was Semi Sivic, explaining how to spell his name to the photogr...

"I have been told as recently as last night that I have a slightly upsetting view on life that probably doesn't instil hope so just to make sure I'm still suitable to be a guest?" Episode #27 of The Hope Initiative with Nick Anderson. Nick Anderson is the guest in episode 27 of The Hope Initiative, and if it's not clear from that quote, this episode is going to be one of the...

Hey everyone! I've been a bit absent of late... But I have some big plans for the remainder of 2019 and into the new decade - can't believe it, 2020! This is a super short, on the fly recording with my plans for the next 3 months. I'm so excited to share some incredibly generous conversations with fellow humans and to continue podcasting to see where it takes me. If you've enjoyed...

"I'm not the only person on the planet that's not very happy, it's like a universal trait..." Episode #26 of The Hope Initiative with Jess Brown. Jess is a CEO, business owner, wife, mother and the best version of a rebel you could imagine. In this conversation we discuss her upbringing, starting in New Zealand and being treated like one of the men in her Dads fishing company...

"I think that we do our best work when we are teaching or communicating to other people. And so I think that's when you feel like you fully grasp something is when you know the answer but then are able to communicate it and have somebody else be able to know the answer..." Episode #25 of The Hope Initiative with David Nebinski. I met David through the Podcast Fellowship series 2, whi...

"You get into it because you want to make great content. Whether you start off great or not - most people don't - the fact is, you want to make something great. So I've always tried to set a high bar for myself." Episode #24 of The Hope Initiative with James Parkinson. James is a professional audio producer and podcast creator. He's a great source of inspiration for me throug...

Episode 23 with Craig Middleton! This is a colourful interview. One I loved and I'm sure you will love too. Craig is a Englishman who has lived in Australia for the past 30 odd years since his mid 20's. He's worked in his local fish and chip shop north of London in Hertfordshire, to some of the fanciest hotels in England including one on Park Lane (yes, that Park Lane) in the Grosvenor House Hotel...

"Part of it is a bit of hope that you’ve got the right values and that you’ve had the right conversations. Growing up is about becoming more independent of your parents both online and offline. You’ve gotta do some groundwork in those, where my 11 year old is before he has a phone, there’ll be quite a few conversations around that, and across the journey too and I think if you’re able to have...

"Going overseas was a bit of a leap of faith and I was kind of hoping that this kind of opportunity would pop up where I’d be able to meet someone, different meeting face to face and starting a relationship than doing it from all the way down here. Again, it was kind of like a lucky break, lucky coincidence I think helped by putting myself out there." Episode #21 of The Hope Initiative w...

"I think spiritual is appreciating... I don't say that I'm an old two legged cisgender white male of privilege flippantly. I appreciate the gifts that I have received in my life." Episode #20 of The Hope Initiative with Danny van Leeuwen. I met Danny from Boston via The Podcast Fellowship, the course that I did to learn how to podcast at the end of 2018. Over these past 9 months...

"Why not help?" That is the question - the somewhat rhetorical question - posed by Todd Morgan, this weeks guest. Todd and I went to High School together at Box Hill Senior Secondary back in 2008/09 and since then haven't really spoken, despite being friends on Facebook for all these years. Having seen his self titled "Little Man Rants" online over the years, I decided to reach out and learn about...