The You Project

Dr. Lillian Nejad is back and we discuss what happened at Bondi on Sunday (we recorded less than 24 hours later). Obviously, we offer no “solutions” or magic pills (there aren’t any) but we felt it was an important conversation to have. Even for ourselves. For the second half (maybe a little more) of the show we chatted about “destination disappointment” (being disappointed when you achieve your goal), WTF contentment is and how we might get some!, we compared different approaches to therapy, spoke about our favourite thought-provoking philosophical movie, climbing the wrong mountain and finally, we each shared some of our favourite action-prompting questions. Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode is what the cool podcast kids call a co-share. I was recently on “The Artistry of Humanity” with Ian Williams and we had a great chat about being simultaneously rich and broke, the external illusion of success versus the internal reality of chaos and misery, the biology of stress and lots more. Enjoy. artistry-of-humanity.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The resident geek is back enlightening, amusing, educating and terrifying us (in equal measure) with the “what’s happening” and the “what’s coming” of technology, social media, cybersecurity and super creepy Al-enabled teddy bears. Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This was a timely, fascinating and relevant-for-right-now chat with Stacey Wood, Ph.D. - Professor of Psychology at Scripps College in California. We spoke about the way deception, fraud and manipulation "works" from a psychological, emotional, sociological, practical and legal perspective. Turns out that - when it comes to scamming vulnerable people - some scumbags are charming, charismatic, articulate sociopaths who understand how to manipulate people's emotions, actions and back accounts, for personal gain. Like I said, scumbags. Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Love is in the air at TYP Central and no, it doesn't involve me but it does involve someone you all know well and potentially one of your favourite regulars. Okay, l've said too much but f**k it, I'm excited. This episode will go down in TYP history. Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this instalment of TYP, Kelly, Tiff and I chat about the propensity we humans have to obsess about, and waste energy on, problems that don't currently (and may never) exist. And also... the subsequent self-created psychological and emotional sh*t-fest that comes with it. In general terms, we talk about trying to manage our subjective experience in the middle of a never-ending series of objective events, situations and circumstances (you know.. life). Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Social osmosis is (for this conversation) the way attitudes, beliefs, emotions, values, behaviours, language and norms seep into us simply by being around people - without us choosing, trying, or even noticing. It's not a 'real' term (in psychological literature) but it's a real part of the human experience. It’s a Craig-ism. I guess it's kind of like psychological second-hand smoke. You don't decide to inhale or absorb it, you just do. Unintentionally. Unconsciously. For better or worse. Have you noticed how just being around some people is literally good for your physical, mental and emotional health? Even if you don't say anything? There's definitely some kind of energetic exchange happening. This conversation with Tiff is one of my all-time Craig-Tiff favourites. Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some of you know I often talk about "intelligence" being context and/or task dependent. Well, if this instalment of TYP was a room, I was definitely (and happily) the dumbest in the room. Professor Nick Haslam is a world-renowned social psychology researcher whose interests include dehumanisation, stigma, psychiatric classification, and mental health. Our conversation went far and wide and we covered everything from bullying and identity to self-diagnosis and understanding our own mind. It was a privilege to hang out with the Prof. for an hour and yes, the meaning behind the title is revealed in the chat. His most recent book is called 'Troubled Minds: Understanding and Treating Mental Illness. Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wow! This chat is one of my favourites of 2025, with a TYP Freshy - a brand new guest, Emma Slade (Lopen Ani Pema Deki) who is the first Western woman to be fully ordained in the Drukpa Kagyu lineage of Bhutan (meaning Emma is a Buddhist nun). This was a refreshing, insightful, and thought-provoking conversation with an amazing woman who totally re-invented herself after a life-changing experience where she was held at gun point while on a business trip in Jakarta. So much practical wisdom and guidance in this one. Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the middle of the mayhem that is (can be) the human experience, how we find our purpose? Or, does it find us? Or do we choose it? Create it? Is it a constant? Does it change over time? And by the way, what does "purpose" (in this context) even mean? Tiff, Bobby and I explored all of these questions and lots more, in very conversational TYP instalment. Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

TYP Fave Dr. Denise Furness is back and this time we chat about reversing cognitive decline, improving sleep, why women have more trouble sleeping than blokes, the value (or not) of Melatonin, the part of your brain that literally grows when you do hard stuff, spiders as big as your hand (really) that live at Dr. Denise's house, the danger that my testicles are in (according to the Doc) and lots more. Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This was a fun - if somewhat combative episode of TYP - where Gillespo and I didn’t see eye to eye on everything (shocker) but definitely had fun exploring the pros and cons, benefits and threats, knowns, and unknowns of Al. Especially as we move into a version of humanity that will be (already is?) intertwined with a rapidly evolving form of intelligence that has zero empathy, never gets tired, doesn't 'feel’ anything and doesn't need food, rest, sleep or emotional support. I'm equally scared and excited. Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode is a freestyle, thinking-out-loud, deep dive into the very common practice of self-sabotage (over-thinking, avoidance, people-pleasing, procrastination, perfectionism, self-loathing, time-wasting) from a world-class self-saboteur. Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Founder of the Play Prescription Method and Institute, Dr. Sam Casey is back helping us understand the do's and don'ts of educating, guiding, protecting and empowering kids towards critical thinking, independence, resilience and healthy self-esteem. Among other things, we explore this question - when does protecting kids become "getting in the way" of the learning and development that comes with the falling down and getting up (literally or metaphorically) of childhood? Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Remember the old days? When we used to write with a pen? On paper? And use a ruler? This time on TYP Patrick, Tiff and I chatted about the possible evaporation of students writing with pens, the pros and cons of the impending social media ban for kids under sixteen (yes, there are cons), Google putting datacentres in space to cope with the Al avalanche, the continuing backlash of companies using Al to replace creatives (actors, artists, writers, singers, musicians), a new hybrid car that does almost 2,500kms on a single 'tank' (so to speak), a new high-tech gel to repair tooth enamel and lots more. Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is anxiety a 'life sentence'? Does it serve a positive purpose? Is it a different experience for different people? We all use the same word but are we actually talking about the same thing? Should we learn to co-exist with it - without letting it hijack our life - or should we work to eradicate it? Maybe neither? Is it an emotion, a physical reaction to an emotion or both? Or is it something else? This was a 'spirited' and fun conversation and it's fair to say that Dr. Jodi and I didn't agree on everything - which is why we call it an organic conversation and not an echo-chamber of ideology and opinion. Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kate Save (accredited Exercise Physiologist and Dietician) joins Tiff and I to discuss a brand-new study (randomized controlled trial, October, 2025) comparing whole food with a supplement-based very-low-energy diet and it's the first time l've ever heard Kate fired up! Apart from chatting about the study results, we also discuss the multitude of psychological, emotional, physiological, social and practical variables that go into what we eat, why we eat and how we eat. Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This slightly different TYP episode is the conclusion to our mildly educational conversation about the 1.3kg supercomputer that lives in your head. Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is memorising a fact or piece of information to pass a test or meet a requirement actually learning, or is it just filing another thing in our cognitive hard-drive that will never the see light of day in a practical, behavioural sense? Does learning need to equate to doing, or can it be just about knowing stuff that we'll never operationalise? In this chat, Kelly, Tiff and I explore this quirky little question and lots more. Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As someone who has employed hundreds of people, trained thousands, coached a bunch, lectured at University and answered more questions than I can remember, I can say with some confidence that people love to receive feedback - as long as it's feedback they love. Let's just say that the claim "I love getting feedback" is often not supported in the real world, with real feedback. In this episode, Bobby and I unpack feedback (giving and receiving), hard conversations, reading the room, social intelligence, emotional intelligence, situational awareness and lots more. Enjoy. theselfhelpantidote.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

According to Gillespo, us blokes are producing less and less swimmers, fertility levels are plummeting and in the not-too-distant future, couples ability to be able to produce offspring could be dependant on some kind of medical intervention. It's a good thing l'm a hundred years past my use-by date. Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Jeff is back and this episode is one of the more meandering, informal, getting-to-know-you (type of) chats I've had with the Doc, and I loved it. We spoke about self-experimentation, biofeedback, personalised medicine, biohacks, the future direction of it all, the need for some 'anti-establishment' thinking and why Big Pharma (and the like) definitely don't want any research dollars or energy going into any of that mind-body, self-healing (placebo type) stuff. Imagine if we actually had the potential to heal ourselves? That's definitely gonna f**k with someone’s bottom line a p**s off a few million shareholders. Enjoy. recellebrate.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode is a deep dive into the single most powerful, confusing and occasionally uncooperative thing you own - your brain. In this episode we strip away the jargon and talk in normal-people language about how your 1.3kg prediction machine actually works - why it reacts before you think, why you repeat patterns, what stress does to your operating system, and how much you can genuinely rewire. It's not a neuroscience lecture; it's a user manual for running your brain - and your life - better. Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What if some of the physical benefits of exercise could be delivered in a capsule? It sounds like sci-fi, but two new scientific studies suggest we might be inching closer to that reality. In this fascinating episode, Tiff and I sit down with geneticist, author and science communicator Professor Bill Sullivan Jr. to unpack the growing field of exercise mimetics - therapies designed to replicate certain physiological effects of working out, without the sweat session. As you'd imagine, I have a few philosophical objections and questions but nonetheless, it's interesting research with vast potential, this was a fun chat with one of my favourites and no, the pill is not intended to become a 'replacement' (per se) but rather a potential option for some individuals with certain limitations and challenges. Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This time Tiff and I explore the differing concepts of "the best" (diet, workout, job, lifestyle, strategy, protocol) and "our best," highlighting that what's optimal for one person will be sub-optimal, or even dangerous, for another. Is there really a "best" diet? Or fitness program? Is there a (single) best way to grow a business? Build a brand? What about relationships? Is there only one way to build a great marriage? Or friendship? As we continue on our personal growth journey, maybe our biggest challenges isn't to discover "the" best but rather, "our" best. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.