The You Project

Marc Brackett is a Professor at Yale University and the Founder and Director of the Yale Centre for Emotional Intelligence. For over 20 years, his research has focused on the role of emotions and emotional intelligence in learning, decision making, creativity, relationships, health and performance. He has published over 150 scholarly articles and received numerous awards. He consults regularly wit...

‘Weird Science’… an 1985 movie (remember Kelly LeBrock?) and also and accurate title for this chat. Patrick and Tor are back and this time we talk about the mental, emotional and social consequences of people staring at phones (and ignoring the people around them) in social situations, the potential role of artificial intelligence in hair regeneration, faecal transplants (poo therapy, of sorts), a...

Clickbait title? Not if it’s true! Tommy Jackett has been on TYP a bunch but we’ve never recorded a show exploring his back story or our friendship. Well, this episode is that. Among other things, we talk about his stripping career with ‘Aussie Spunks’ (thought I’d lead with that, LMAO), his desperation to leave school, his time as a breakfast radio host, personal trainer, landscaper and podcaster...

This was an interesting and fun chat with an introvert who lives in a world (situation, business, career) requiring her to do ‘extrovert-y’ things, like talking on a podcast to thousands of people. Julie Stevanja told me she declines most podcast requests because they “absolutely exhaust her”. So interesting. Having said that, she was (is) ace. We went far and wide in this chat, touching on the ch...

What are the variables which influence (and dictate) whether you’re closer to the ‘zero’ or the ‘ten’ on the not-yet-created ‘Harper Work Satisfaction Scale’ (HWSS)? What role do things like culture, connection, job security, responsibilities, wage, travel time, feedback, leadership, feeling valued, respect and mental health play? Organisational Psychology Guru Anna Feringa is back at TYP Central...

At some stage of our journey, most of us are taught that intelligence is a thing that’s measured by completing a specific test, getting a ‘score’ and then being told ‘how smart’ we are. Or aren’t. What could go wrong? And while we all instinctively know that intelligence is a forest not a tree, nonetheless, our culture still seems to obsess about (and focus on), the IQ tree. Fortunately, things ar...

Dr. Drew Ramsey is a psychiatrist, author and farmer. He is one of psychiatry’s leading proponents of using dietary change to help balance moods, sharpen brain function and improve mental health. He is the author of four books concerning food and mental health (including the hilariously titled ‘50 Shades of Kale’) and his latest book is called ‘Eat to Beat Depression and Anxiety’. This was a fasci...

Professor Alan Duffy is a Cosmologist, Astronomer and Astrophysicist working on dark matter, galaxy formation and cosmology. He’s also Director of the Space Technology and Industry Institute and is a Professor at Swinburne University. Among other things, we spoke about the skill of explaining science to the masses in an understandable and interesting manner, why NASA recently crashed a perfectly-g...

For this episode, Patrick stepped away from his tech desk and we spoke less about technology (not at all, in fact) and more about the psychology, biology, sociology and practicality of the human experience. We chatted about who we surround ourselves with, how to change the way we think, unconditional kindness, childhood table-tennis, my first ever self-help book and its impact on me, lucid dreamin...

Dr. Michael Shermer is the Founder of Skeptic magazine and the Executive Director of The Skeptics Society. He is the author of New York Times bestsellers Why People Believe Weird Things, The Believing Brain, Why Darwin Matters, The Science of Good and Evil, The Moral Arc, Heavens on Earth, Giving the Devil His Due: Reflections of a Scientific Humanist and his new book is called Conspiracy: Why the...

We are potentially living in the most ‘knowing’ era ever. Well, at the very least, we (the masses) have access to more information (about everything) than any time in history. But what are we doing with all it all? I was recently on Tiff’s show (Roll with the Punches) and we spoke about the propensity many of us have to be good at the theory of personal growth (idea, information, intention, talk,...

Janine Kwoh is an artist, creator, author and story-teller, whose partner died when they were both 28 and who subsequently, has spent the last six years trying to navigate, understand and deal with, grief. It seems like this might be a heavy chat, it isn’t. Janine is the owner / artist / one-person assembly line behind Kwohtations; an ever-evolving collection of greeting cards and gifts that refle...

Kristin Neff, Ph. D. is a pioneer in the study of self-compassion, being the first person to operationally define and measure the construct almost twenty years ago and these days she is recognised as one of the world's most influential research psychologists. Kristin has written a best-seller, not surprisingly called Self-Compassion, is a sought-after Speaker and Educator and we had a great chat,...

Gregory Smith’s childhood was the stuff of nightmares. I won’t go too deep here but the snapshot is neglect, violence, abuse and misery. At 10, his mother left him at an orphanage, where the abuse continued, from 14 he was in and out of juvenile detention and by the time he reached his 20’s, he was an addict and alcoholic, living on the fringe of society, with significant mental health issues. For...

I asked former international model Deborah Hutton if the window for my modelling career may have come and gone, and she informed me that, there was no window. Oh well, at least we cleared that up (lol). Deborah is fun. And talented. And driven.  And creative. And super smart. And I enjoyed getting to know her (a little). In this organic conversational casserole, we spoke about being an internation...

I was recently on the ‘Simply Practically Human’ podcast with Mark LeBusque and as always, we waxed lyrical about all things mindset, behaviour, performance and self-awareness. It was fun. Enjoy. humanmanageracademy.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Melissa Wu jumps off stuff. Specifically, diving platforms and boards. She is a current member of the Australian Diving Team, competing in the women’s 10m individual and women’s 10m synchro events, she’s a 4x Olympian, Olympic Silver Medalist (Beijing 2008), Olympic Bronze Medalist (Tokyo 2020), has represented Australia at four Commonwealth Games and is the reigning Commonwealth Games Gold Medall...

David Gillespie is one of Australia’s most prolific (and successful) Authors, he’s a Lawyer, a Champion of equal-opportunity education, a tireless Researcher and a TYP Regular (clearly, the crowning achievement of his career). Again, we open the psychopath door and this time we learn why they don’t experience fear, nerves or anxiety like a ‘normal’ (there’s a loaded term) person, why they keep goi...

Cancer is f*ked but Johnny Ruffo is not. He is a weapon. Funny. Talented. Resilient. Courageous. Realistic. Most of you know his back story as a singer, songwriter, actor and performer and some of you have heard about his terminal brain cancer diagnosis but this conversation opened a door that, according to Johnny, he had never walked through before in an interview; “I’ve never been this real or o...

Andrew Dowling is the founder and CEO of @stitchdotnet and WipeOutLoneliness.org. He is an internationally-recognised social entrepreneur who has been featured in TIME Magazine, The New Yorker, Forbes, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, The Australian, Bloomberg TV, Sydney Morning Herald, and more. ‘Stich’ is all about community and companionship for anyone over 50 and it is the world’s l...

Professor Russell Foster (from Oxford University, no less) is one of those rare breeds of high-level academic with an amazing ability to break down the super-sciencey stuff into TYP-Friendly, easy-to-understand-and-apply info and inspo. Yes, I used inspo. You’re welc. Stop it. This chat is in my all-time top 20 (out of almost a thousand eps). Among other things, we spoke about circadian rhythms (w...

Don’t try to bulls**t Steve van Aperen; it won’t end well for you. Not gonna lie (pun intended), I was a little self-conscious and tried very hard to cut back on my lying for this episode. Steve is as an expert in the field of behavioural interviewing, reading body language and detecting deception. He has received extensive training from the world’s leading international investigative authorities...

Would you eat lab-grown meat? How can a Doctor of Chinese Medicine diagnose a problem with your liver by looking into your eyes or a dodgy back by poking the soles of your feet? Should athletes be able to wear shoes that make them run faster if they all have access to the same shoes? Should TYP have its own Mardi Gras float with Patrick and I out front (Titanic style)? How does looking back at Ear...

This episode is a chat with Doug Taylor, the boss of The Smith Family and he, and the organisation he leads, are good people, doing good things. The Smith Family has been working to improve the lives of children living in disadvantage for 100 years. They are Australia’s largest national education charity, supporting young Australians experiencing disadvantage to create better futures for themselve...

“The essence of Buddhism: (1) don’t be a dick (2) be kind to people (3) train your mind” – Charlie Morley (Buddhist Teacher). I didn’t want this episode to end. I loved the chat, loved Charlie and yes, I love my job. Charlie was a drug-taking, hard-living, wild young man who had a NDE (Near Death Experience) and who, through a series of twists and turns, became an internationally renowned Speaker,...