The You Project

Perfectionism (n.): the tendency to demand of others or of oneself an extremely high or even flawless level of performance, in excess of what is required by the situation. It is associated with depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and other mental health problems. *Our resident Clinical Psychologist Doctor Lillian is back and (no surprise) we unpack the psychology, sociology, physiology and prac...

For me, this was one of the most enjoyable, relevant, funny and amusing podcasts Tiff and I have done in a long time. While it's impossible to be objective about something you're in the middle of, to me it felt like a conversation that most people will connect with, relate to, benefit from or laugh at somewhere along the way. We spoke about 'getting good' at stuff, the social appeal and value of h...

Once upon a time (back in the old days), a Bodybuilder called Keith and a Scientist called Paul got together to create some nutritional products for themselves and a few friends to supplement and support their diet, training, and recovery. Three and a half decades later, they're still doing the same thing but on a slightly bigger scale. Since 1989, Max's (their company) has become one of the most...

Gillespo's back talking about his tuba career (it was short-lived), his reluctant piano years, his total lack of musical aptitude (and tone-deafness) and he throws some shade at the validity of the 'ten thousand hours of practice makes perfect' theory (to be honest, l'm with him). We also talk about an amazing molecule (Molecule of the Year in 1992) that can blow sh*t up (literally), treat numerou...

This time on TYP, Tiff and I do a deep dive into the idea that you and I exist and operate in two-worlds; one that's external, physical, and visible (where 'life' happens) and another that's internal, non-physical, and invisible (where 'living' happens). We talk about the ever-present challenge of constantly navigating these two very-human 'places’. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy in...

While this episode has been requested hundreds of times, it definitely won't be of interest to all. For better or worse, some people want me to do an episode on my personal health protocol, so here it is. In it, I talk about my diet, training (weights, cardio, flexibility), supplements, caffeine intake, sleep protocol, biological age, current fitness and health status (as rated subjectively by me)...

While this episode has been requested hundreds of times, it definitely won't be of interest to all. For better or worse, some people want me to do an episode on my personal health protocol, so here it is. In it, I talk about my diet, training (weights, cardio, flexibility), supplements, caffeine intake, sleep protocol, biological age, current fitness and health status (as rated subjectively by me)...

Bobby and I have been friends for about twenty-five years and it hasn't always been smooth sailing. Mostly yes, but not always. There have been some hard conversations, healthy disagreements, slightly-less-healthy disagreements and the odd honest misunderstanding but underneath it all, there was (is) always love, trust, respect and a strong brotherly bond. And fun, silly-ness and laughter. Of cour...

According to our resident Tai Chi-teaching, tech-obsessed, loveable, father-of-one (Fritz the wonder Schnauzer), more and more people are making an 'appointment' with 'Dr. ChatGPT' (or similar) to diagnose and treat whatever ails them. Of course, it seems like a terrible idea as Al gets stuff wrong but then, so do humans. Humans also get tired, hungry and distracted but Al doesn't. Personally, I'l...

Brad McEwan is best known as an Australian Television Presenter and Sports Journalist, having hosted Network Ten's 'Sports Tonight' for almost a decade. Apart from being a media superstar (my words, not his), Brad and I have been friends for decades, having first met when he trained in one of my gyms. Brad is a man of depth, integrity and kindness and as always, this was a fascinating an insightfu...

Health Coaches. Business Coaches. Executive Coaches. Life Coaches. Exercise Coaches. Mind Coaches. Nutrition Coaches. High-Performance Coaches. And on it goes. In the old days, my Coach was the bloke who screamed at me on the footy field. Back then there was only really one kind of coach; the sporting kind. Not anymore. In this episode Pete, Tiff and I talk about the good and bad, the how and how-...

This was a fun chat between the fledgling pianist and the old bogan, and we sure covered some ground. On the conversational menu was living authentically, the ten-thousand-hour mastery rule, the value of paying attention to the wisdom of our body (bio-feedback), the other side of goals, the benefit in doing something 'un-you', the willingness to bravely 'be the worst' at something (in the beginnin...

Well, this chat was a steep learning curve for the old bogan from Latrobe Valley. In this episode, Gillespo and I discuss the fascinating and complex history of the birth control pill - how a scientific breakthrough, a feminist movement, and a social revolution collided to change the world. But we also explore the unintended consequences, particularly for teenage girls. While the pill has empowere...

In this thought-provoking episode of The You Project, we challenge the conventional wisdom that "picking a side" is always the right move. What if the most insightful perspective comes from the fence itself? We explore why our culture pushes us to choose teams, how tribal thinking warps our perception, and why maintaining thoughtful neutrality might be an act of courage rather than indecision. Joi...

This chat with Dr. Jeff was a conversational smorgasbord of health, medicine and human optimisation. The good Doc and I spoke about hormesis (where exposure to a low dose of a potentially harmful stressor triggers a beneficial adaptive response), the truth about biological age, melatonin, hormone replacement therapy (for men and women), heat shock proteins, senescent zombie cells and we even get D...

I'm not a parent (so take this with a grain of salt) but I'm pretty sure that 'perfect parenting' is not the best or most realistic goal. In this chat, Dr. Sam and I discuss the pressure, expectations and demands (internal and external) around parenting in 2025, the 'thriving formula' for different kids, my very low-tech (no tech?) childhood compared with kids growing up never having seen a cow, w...

Imagine growing up in the Gillespie household; no chemicals, no processed food, no seed oils, lots of cow, chook and fish in the fridge, probably some weird kind of filtered water, and definitely not a gram of sugar in sight. This was a fun chat where the feather ruffler and I put the Australian Healthy Eating Guidelines under the microscope and also took a run at a few other controversial topics....

The super smart and loveable Bobby Cappuccio is back downloading the gold, as he does. Wow, this was a good chat (he says humbly). Well, I loved it; you might too. We spoke about the idea of 'quitting every day' (it'll make sense), self-compassion, ego-deconstructing experiences, the 'need' to be right, our shared experiences about being (essentially) dogmatic and unteachable (at times), electroni...

I'm fascinated with human potential; what's actually possible when somebody is genuinely prepared to do the work, face the fear, embrace the pain, overcome their self-sabotaging bulls**t and completely commit to the process of optimising what they have to work with. As someone who isn't wildly talented, brilliant or genetically gifted, l've long been obsessed with the challenge of defying my innat...

Is it weird that at sixty-one I feel like I'm learning like a teenager? And that l'm going through a 'cognitive growth spurt'? And that my brain feels like it 'works better' than it did in my forties? While I spend much of my life teaching and coaching, l'm also a life-long learner who is still excited about what's next in my never-ending classroom. In this informal chat, Tiff and I talk about the...

In an industry overflowing with male CEO's (Real Estate), Sally O'Connell is something of a unicorn; she is the CEO is of the very fancy-schmancy (my term, not theirs) Abercrombys Real Estate, which operates primarily at the end of the market that I won't be shopping in any time soon. This was a fun and insightful conversation with an old friend (and employee) who continues to evolve, learn and le...

In Exercise Science there's a concept (tool, scale) that's used to assess how hard a person thinks they're working (1-10) based on their capacity, with 10 being their (perceived) absolute physical limit. It's called the 'Rate of Perceived Exertion' (RPE) scale. It's a subjective self-assessment (which makes it makes it more science-ish, than hard science) but nonetheless, I'm always interested in...

Technology scares the crap out of Mary Harper. It's a language she doesn't speak, a skill she doesn't have and at eighty-five, she doesn't want to learn it and I don't blame her. For people like my mum, even having a conversation with someone who lacks awareness, patience and/or empathy (a person in a business or on the end of a phone call perhaps) can result in confusion, frustration, embarrassme...

Paul Joy is a School Chaplain, ordained Baptist Minister, religious TYP listener (pun intended) and freakishly talented Sketch Artist (weird combo, I know). I might be insulting some religious folk when I say that he's uncharacteristically relatable, real and open-minded but.. oh well, I said it. Sorry, not sorry. Anyway, we decided to get together and chat all things God, religion, the validity o...

According to Clinical Psychologist Dr. Lillian Nejad, life blockers are psychological, emotional and practical challenges, beliefs, issues and barriers that stand between us and what we want to do, be, create and change. Some of those blockers exist despite us, some because of us, and some of them only exist in our mind. Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.