Episode 101 – Murray Guest | Reflection on first 100 Episodes

Episode 101 is a reflection of the past hundred episodes of the Inspired Energy podcast, and this time it is Murray on the receiving end! Matt Cowdroy, who was our guest for Episode 6 back in 2018, has jumped back on to now chat with Murray about his key insights, lightbulb moments and favourite conversations that have graced this podcast over the last three years.

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Transcript

Matt Cowdroy  

Hello, Murray, welcome to your podcast.

Murray Guest  

Thank you, Matt. It’s good to be on my podcast with you. I think. Yes. Yes.

Matt Cowdroy  

It’s an honor to be here to have the opportunity to celebrate episode 101 with you. Ah, yes.

Murray Guest  

I was getting into talking mode and interrupting you so I’ll just stop. You keep going.

Matt Cowdroy  

So welcome to your own podcast. It really is an honor to be here to celebrate with you that you know that celebration of your reaching 101 episodes. I know that in our discussions leading up to today’s recording, we want to make sure that there’s some value in this for your listeners today as we review some of the themes and some of the people that you’ve had some of the guests that you’ve had on the podcast over the years I’ve got a note here that the first podcast was August 2018. 19, 20, there we have counting on my fingers that makes it three years three and a bit years since you started. So congratulations. And I want to start by asking you a question, if I may. Given that I am interviewing you in a sense. Why did you launch the inspired energy podcast?

Murray Guest  

Matt, thank you. Thank you very much. And just to reflect on that back in August 2018. I think COVID’s messed with my head a little around time at the moment because I didn’t know been that long from when I first started. So yeah, wow, time flies, doesn’t it? Three years. Yeah. Why did I start the podcast? So I think let’s go deep pretty quickly. What I realized is, I have three brothers. I’m the second youngest, so middle child, middle child syndrome. I don’t think I had much of a voice at times. My recollection is I didn’t have a much of a voice as the middle child growing up. And I am a talking type of person I like to talk and so maybe at a deep level, because I didn’t feel like I got to talk a lot as a child. I wanted to get that out and have conversations and so the idea of the podcast at a deeper level was I wanted to really connect and have these conversations with people. And interestingly, I started a podcast about two years before this when this launched in 2018. And what I mean by started was I recorded some conversations and back then it was much harder to publish. Yeah, and I use anchor to publish my podcasts and it’s nice and easy and it pushes it all out. And anchor making it easy made it easier then for me to have those conversations and to do that. But with everyone I’ve also spoken to on the podcast, it’s generally three things I say is I want to have conversations with inspiring people and I’ve had so many of those. Second thing is I wanted to give them a platform to share what they passionate insightful about and get that out. And the third thing is I can learn because I learned so much from these conversations. I’m not much of a reader. And sometimes I beat myself up that I could be reading more books. And then I then look at my learning style is to learn through the conversation. So I feel like I’ve learned so much from the people that I’ve had on my podcast, same way I learned from people’s podcasts that I listen to as well. So yeah, it gives me a chance to have those conversations and connect with some amazing people from around the world.

Matt Cowdroy  

Fantastic. I’ve certainly enjoyed some of the episodes. There’s so many podcasts I like to listen to. It’s hard to keep up with them all. But it’s been interesting watching your interviewing technique change over the years as well, listening to your interviewing technique change. One of the things you reflected to me recently was one of the things you’ve learned from the podcast is the importance of listening and I’ve noticed your interview technique change from letting someone say something, one of your guests speak and then you would offer your opinion or your your reflection on that which of course that’s valuable, but I’ve noticed over time you’ve been you’ve been a lot more quiet, you’ve been letting them talk and that’s been a really interesting change to see throughout the journey of the podcast. Did you want to reflect on that importance of listening topic you mentioned to me?

Murray Guest  

Well, well, as a talker, like I just said, I love talking but you’re spot on. I’ve learned to listen more. And to really tap into that curiosity and to listen to what someone’s got to say and to go with the flow of what they want to share. I think early on I’d have my set questions I’ve got asked these questions and and maybe even been thinking through that next question more than really listening. And I think whether you’re on a podcast or in a relationship or leading a team in a business, really listening makes a big difference to the person that you’re talking with, that they feel respected and heard. But also that curiosity then you start to really understand and learn a lot more and connect with them. So yeah, definitely listening more but I think the bit that goes with it is that bit of having a level of preparation, but not over preparing to a point of losing the curiosity so it’s a balance of both, I think.

Matt Cowdroy  

Yeah, that’s a really good point. And I was probably guilty of preparing for my next question when you were answering my first question. It’s been a very interesting series of podcasts what I thought, what I wanted to do is read out just the last 10 or 15 sort of topics that have been covered because it’s interesting how you said at the start, that you wanted to be having conversations with people to to learn more to go deeper. You know, to learn more about the people, to learn more about the topics without having to go and read all the books potentially. And as I as I was looking back through your list of episodes preparing for today, I’m thinking to myself, this is my holiday listening like, cause let me just read these out. Yeah, the topics like breath, magic, solar and clean technology, Clifton Strengths – this will come up quite a few times Clifton Strengths – resetting and finding your purpose, biohacking, leadership mindset, self evolved leadership, skills transfer, strengths again, strengths journal, gift mindset, fear, Lego Serious Play, and then you had your and that’s just some of them. And then you had your series you had the success map series with Becky that I’m not sure I’ve listened to any of those yet, but there’s a whole series of five of those and then there’s the lockdown leadership series and then very interestingly, the roaring 20s episodes.

Murray Guest  

Yeah, that was interesting. Yeah.

Matt Cowdroy  

Pre COVID, where everyone’s talking about what they thought 2020 would be like, there is a lot to reflect on there. So what comes up for you as I sort of read out of all those topics and thoughts?

Murray Guest  

Well, I think one of the things that definitely jumps out to me is my partnership with Becky Hammond I’ve had throughout the podcasts and with our program Leaders Who Give a Damn where we have recorded I feel terrible now I can’t remember how many episodes but we’ve recorded around 10 I would say together and through those there’s things that have come out of those conversations that again, we had some preparation but then through the actual conversation, there was an idea that germinated through the conversation which was so so wonderful. And Becky’s a powerhouse leader and she does great work with moms. She was living in America, now lives in Africa. Her husband got a job over there. But that that collaboration and I think the thing that stands out for me there is that, going back to what I was saying before, things would come out of that conversation that we didn’t know we’re going to have and all the things that we didn’t plan on having in that conversation, which I think, again, for me is about creating space for conversation so that you’re not rushing through, that way you can have that conversation where it gives opportunity for something to develop, which you didn’t know was going to be there. And it’s interesting. I remember when I first launched the podcast, I put out a few episodes and I shared it in a Facebook group I used to talk in and this guy sent me a message saying I think the episodes are too long. Thank you for your feedback. And I generally, Matt, I have the conversations for as long as what feels about right. Yeah, and some go for 40 minutes, some go for an hour and it’s around let’s not rush the conversation on whatever topic it is. So what stands out to me is slowing down and creating spaces and really good conversations. And in this day and age of overload of information and clickbait read the headline and nothing else but I think we’re slowing down and having those conversations. You and I talk regularly and I love our conversations because we’re like let’s talk about a topic and we talked about it for a while which is really good. So that stands out to me on that. The second thing is some really cool people that I’ve talked to whether they’re based in Europe or America or New Zealand or Australia, all different parts around the world, but it’s great to connect with these people that it’s there’s a David Goggins quote, which is Be the unique in the unique. David Goggins is awesome. But I love this idea of what is your field and then be unique in that field. And, again, that the people I’ve got to get the opportunity to chat to are this unique in the unique which I love.

Matt Cowdroy  

Absolutely, and there are people in your guest list who have very much specialized in I would think quite niche areas. Play like being playful. Yeah, I think I think that you had a lady on that talked about magic. I can’t remember her name, but is she actually a magician? Or she just talks about magic I wasn’t sure from because I haven’t listened to that episode.

Murray Guest  

That’s Kelly. Yeah. And she’s a Strengths coach facilitator based in Sydney. And so she is very much about unlocking the magic in people in teams. And so that really connected with her.

Matt Cowdroy  

But she’s not actually a magician, I wasn’t sure.

Murray Guest  

That said, I’d love to have magician on the podcast.

Matt Cowdroy  

Because you’ve had an ex Navy SEAL. You’ve had real estate experts. You’ve had tea experts, people in child care, myself or rather, the people I work with Julie took productivity ninjas, he’s had, you know, the Lego serious play. Like there’s just been such a diverse range of people. And I think it’s interesting because I’m guessing even though the podcast isn’t called leadership or self development, it’s inspired energy, but I think it has a leadership just because of who you are and what you do. It has a leadership or personal, maybe personal leadership kind of sense to it. But from all these different angles, and that’s what I really enjoy about it as well because it all brings it into a more holistic view of us as as humans and I know Gallup Strengths or sorry, Clifton Strengths. Have I got that right?

Murray Guest  

No, that’s good. 

Matt Cowdroy  

Clifton’s Gallup strengths. I know that that’s very, very holistic as well. 

Murray Guest  

Well, the thing that jumps out to me there too, Matt, you’re right. So yes, leadership. And so a lot of people that listen to the podcast I can see from the listeners are leaders within business, which is great. But there’s a real essence I think of self leadership from the different topics that are covered in the conversations where people I think I hope, I hope get an insight around how they can show up more authentically as themselves and more comfortably as themselves. And it’s interesting when you rattle off some of the people I’ve had some amazing experts in their field. The thing I love too, is they’re all very humble. And that that, yes, they’ve done some amazing things and produce amazing pieces of work and they’re doing great things right now, but that humbleness and even leaders talking about when they’ve stuffed up and made mistakes and that realism. I love that. I love that so much.

Matt Cowdroy  

Yeah, they’re definitely humble. And I think there’s also a common thread of a desire to serve, like a desire to take the skills that that your guests have had and the experiences they’ve had and because we’ve all had experiences and develop skills and the willingness to share that openly as well. And I think there’s been a lot of generosity throughout that as well.

Murray Guest  

Yeah, I totally agree. And the other bit that I would probably say is a third theme of those conversations is that it’s not like the learning is finished. Yeah, that there’s a continual learning for these people of they’ve learned something, whatever their field is, or their area they’re talking about, and then there’s more to learn. And they’re on that journey, which I love too.

Matt Cowdroy  

Yep. Yeah. And because we’re always learning. There’s something I wanted to reflect on. One of the themes that you and your team did some great work on, pulling out some of the themes from the episodes was around thinking differently and mindset and in our discussion around how do we make sure that this summary episode still offers some value to people who are still listening to us at the 20 minute mark? Thank you. Around mental I love this, this idea around mental fitness and I just wanted to reflect I think this came from Bek Smith.

Murray Guest  

Yeah, Bek, she’s awesome.

Matt Cowdroy  

And I thought I just wanted to read these out because to me, these just struck me as such a good such a useful thing to think about. Mental fitness tip one: focusing on our strengths of character helps us overcome our internal negativity bias. So focusing on our strengths, and I think of Dr. Rick Hansen and his work on neuroplasticity, that focusing on this and this comes back to strengths of course, yeah. But mental fitness tip two: compassion starts with self compassion. And I love this idea of self care and the three steps to cultivating that and mindfulness, self kindness and remembering our common humanity. Really relevant for hopefully coming out of the back end of COVID. But who knows what’s happening now at this very moment as we record this on the 17th of December 2021. With COVID raring up again. Yeah, yeah, this this idea of mental fitness tip two being compassion and self compassion. And mental fitness tip three: emotional mastery – recognising the utility of our negative emotions, as well as cultivating positive emotions. So I just want to offer those three as like some real value for everyone to reflect on today.

Murray Guest  

I agree they’re great snippets, they’re easy to hear, but can be a bit more work to implement. And so just like when you talk about habits, the first thing to do is to start doing it and the behaviors create the habits. I loved talking with Bek and Bek’s podcast, if I go back to look at my number, it was number where are we number 81. So it came out about a year ago. And so if you haven’t listened that one listen to that, Bek is a mental fitness expert and the thing there too Matt, I think that stands out is I think it’s easy for us as humans to beat ourselves up, you know, that internal dialogue of I could have done this better. I could have said something differently, or why am I not achieving x y or z and that doesn’t help us move forward. So yes, embrace the learnings, the opportunities to do things better, but do that with a positive approach. And that’s what that talks about. And be mindful of that internal dialogue. Which links I think to the conversation with Kristin Ulmer, who’s that amazing, extreme skier and she talks about fear and the voices and how you manage those. And again, that’s a podcast I loved having with that conversation with her because thinking about, Yes, we all have these voices, I know I’ve got a good couple of dozen, and which ones are you listening to? And which ones are you managing to help you be at your best and and to move forward?

Matt Cowdroy  

And starting small.

Murray Guest  

Yes, yeah. And that’s something which I love talking to you and Julie about who do amazing work with companies around productivity and creating habits. And as like you said, you start small for those new habits and then build on those.

Matt Cowdroy  

Yeah, it’s the only place we can start really. So I wanted to ask you a couple more questions. As as we celebrate episode 101. And the inspired energy podcast. Something you ask all your guests, I think, is about inspired energy. What is your definition of inspired energy?

Murray Guest  

You know, Matt, I’ve wrestled with this definition a few times. And the beautiful thing is, so many people have shared their definition in the podcast, and I’ve been in moments where I’ve had these goosebumps and hair standing up on my arms. I love that so much. And it’s sort of solidified what that person just shared. I appreciate you give me a heads up on this question. I’ll be really honest, because I had to think how will I answer this question? So thank you. And I have captured, for me I feel like it’s that energy you get when you’re connected with what you’re doing from a head heart and gut point of view. And you feel motivated to to move forward. And there’s a ripple effect in that motivation around people. So for me, it’s the doing and the people coming together. So, for me, inspired energies is the conversations I’m having, and I felt like great, this is all connecting, it’s working. And I just get the energy to keep going. And for someone else who might be doing something else. That gives them energy but also inspires the people around them. So I think it’s that this beautiful Venn diagram of the doing and the people and your purpose in the middle.

Matt Cowdroy  

So I’m getting there that definitely from your perspective definitely involves community. It involves other people and and the energy that we share amongst each other or create amongst each other.

Murray Guest  

That’s my definition today.

Matt Cowdroy  

Yes, that’s your definition today, yes. Because I think there may have been a time when you would have said that it was when you’re in the flow riding your mountain bike for example. And I know you’ve talked about and written about this concept of flow quite a lot, but is is flow different to inspired energy. Let me add that curveball.

Murray Guest  

Ooh wow. Yeah, um, well, I’m certainly far from the expert on flow. I’m aware of it to the point of view of that when you’re in that state of flow that you are energized and you might feel that sort of impact on time standing still or flying by and things like that. I would say the difference is maybe yeah, I’m gonna put this out there. Maybe with flow it’s like it can come and go. But with inspired energy it is sort of like building on to give you motivation to the next thing and the next thing next thing and in that that gives you inspiration for you to do more and also other people as well that are around you in that connection. And you could be in a state of flow whilst inspired energy is happening.

Matt Cowdroy  

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And I think what I like about the, even the words inspired energy and the phrase there is it has a momentum that seems like it’s something that will almost a self fulfilling momentum, it keeps you going, whereas flow might be a state you’re in at the moment. And then something happens and you’re you might come out of that state of flow. If the inspired energy is running in the background, is driving you in some way it keeps you going so yeah.

Murray Guest  

Oh, yeah. But like I said, that’s that’s today and I’ll revisit that come back to that even more. Yeah.

Matt Cowdroy  

So it is interesting thinking back over the last three years, and I was looking at some notes here from the roaring 20s episodes, because that it’s interesting what we’ve been through in the last couple of years with COVID and a couple of the predictions that people made as your guests on your podcast, in those roaring 20s episodes.

Murray Guest  

And for everyone, that’s not too sure. If you haven’t gone back and listen to those, at the back end of 2019 I had this idea of okay, we’re heading into the 20s. Let’s have these conversations about the roaring 20s like 100 years ago. And what do people think it’s going to be like, and guess what? I reckon most of them are wrong. 

Matt Cowdroy  

I was just about to say I don’t think anyone predicted a global pandemic. No, no. There are some comments here. Like, we need a more human humanity. And I think yeah, and I think the pandemic has, I think made many of us more human in our work, more human in our relationships, because it’s, and I acknowledge there’s been a lot of hardship that people have been through as well. Yeah. And within that hardship, there’s a lot of learning and a lot of development that can take place so I think it has made a lot of us be more humane, more human, if they’re different things, in our work and in our relationships. There’s a comment here that there’s an irony coming that as technology improves face to face connections and needed more than ever. So we were their prediction for coming into 2020 was that we needed more face to face connections. Unfortunately, we all went into lockdown, however, as the technology improved that enabled us to do what we’re doing now until kind of face to face. So there’s a whole lot of comments here about this. But I think instead of going through all these comments, I really just wanted to reflect on the element of surprise that life has for us, you know, and you and I have both had health and accident related major health issues over the last, how long was how long ago was yours about two or three?

Murray Guest  

Three years ago. Yeah.

Matt Cowdroy  

And mine was about five years ago. So you know, and how quickly these things can happen and change the direction of your life or your mindset around life.

Murray Guest  

Yeah, yeah. And that that’s the balance isn’t it Matt around planning and also being adaptable. And you can’t adapt if you don’t have the plan. So put that out there have the plan and then shift. Yeah, has been interesting with COVID. Geez that’s an understatement. What what I have certainly been reminded, like you said is that importance of connection with people throughout this time. Whether that is like we are today, talking online or the face to face. We are pack animals. And I think a lot of people have missed their pack whether it’s their team, their family, their friends, their community, and that’s been impacted significantly through COVID. And I think it’s super important for everyone to find the time and space to connect with their pack as we move forward.

Matt Cowdroy  

And that was definitely a another key theme of the podcast because of the time frame it’s been running was around working from home and and how to do that as well, which was more of a lot more practical kind of advice that you and your guests were giving to support people during COVID which was which was very helpful.

Murray Guest  

Matt can I put you on the spot, what’s one of your tips you think for people working from home that can really help them?

Matt Cowdroy  

Yeah, I think one of the biggest, you can put me on the spot I don’t mind being put on the spot. I think one of the biggest challenges of working from home that we’ve continually heard is the blurring between work time and personal time. Yeah. And having these boundaries because it’s extremely challenging when you’re thinking about work at eight o’clock at night and the laptop still sitting over there on the dining room table. So this blur has been a real challenge. So this is a very simple technique, but we call it the fake commute. And the fake commute is something that bookends the start of the day and the end of the day. So if you are working from home, just going for a walk around the block or something at the start of the day. Or even if it’s listening to some music or 10 deep breaths or whatever your thing is like something that signifies I’m about to start work, because it gets you in the zone, gets you in the mindset but it’s just as important, if not more important for our mental health to also have that commute at the other end of the day. Because it’s the commute home from work. And someone shared with me recently when they finish work for the day at home they they shuttle their work stuff away and they literally say to their partner, Hi honey, I’m home. I’m home now like you know, because for the previous eight hours I haven’t been home I’ve been at work mentally, but also just having some kind of ritual if you like as simple as it needs to be, to finish work for the day and often just tidying away the work things.

Murray Guest  

I like that fake commute a lot and it’s interesting earlier this year I remember talking to someone and they said they missed their 40 minute train ride home. Yeah, that was the decompression time to really unwind and disconnect from work. And they said I’ve missed that. Yeah, yes.

Matt Cowdroy  

I love love that. It’s interesting how people have missed that. And I’ve heard people say they they actually get on their bike and ride around the block even if they don’t feel like going for a big bike ride in the morning. But if they used to ride their bike to work, for example, get on their bike ride around the block and come home and start work or finish work, you know, whatever the whatever stage of the day we’re at so it makes it a really good one. So an open ended question for you as you think back on the many episodes. What have been some of your sort of key lightbulb moments if you like or key I guess I’m not necessarily looking for the exact information more of a feeling or an emotion as we think about the inspired energy idea like what have been some of your real lightbulb moments.

Murray Guest  

It’s interesting. There’s some themes that really jumped out to me at times and one of those is that the power of storytelling, and it’s something which over the sessions I’ve ran with leaders, we often come back to how important storytelling is to connect within business for people to understand what it is they’re trying to do. And when people have me in their conversation, and they’re telling this engaging story, and I feel the hair stand up on my arms or the back of my neck or even feel a bit drawn in and I’m starting to feel like a bit of a you know, funny feeling in my stomach. It’s that the power of that connecting and that story from them. And how important it is to be present. And listen. And I think I’ve been a better podcaster and listener when I’ve just Okay, I just there’s nothing else that’s more important than this person right now and really listening to this person right now. So I would I would say that. The other thing is that continual theme around our mindset and our internal dialogue whether that someone from from Rob Ffield from Top Gun or Kristin we’ve just spoken to around fear. So many different people, and Mads we recently talked about biohacking around that internal dialogue and our mindset and the way that that influences how we show up and being more conscious. So I think about going through life sort of asleep at the wheel. Versus I’m actually switched on and aware of how I’m showing up. And for some people that that can be confronting, a bit of work. But in that work in in that exploration comes a lot of power. And yeah, so that’s something which I think through the episodes have been so many aha moments around how you can be more consciously showing up for you as a person and for those people around you, whether it’s how you interact with your partner, the team, you lead your friends, family, whatever it is.

Matt Cowdroy  

And you mentioned the ripple effect earlier, I think the impact of showing up and being present in a moment can have such a strong ripple effect that we’ll never know. Yeah, we’ll never know what that by being present with each other and the ripple effect that leads on for each person. Yeah, we’ll never know how strong that is.

Murray Guest  

Totally agree. I’m just I’ve actually brought up my list here to look at some people. And it’s easy to remember the primacy and recency effect where yes, you remember the first and the most recent but throughout the conversations. Minter Dial who I thought we’d have this conversation, he produced a documentary on getting back the ring from his his I’ve got to get this right Minter sorry, his grandfather in World War II and getting that back from America to Australia. Yes to sorry, to England, I should say to England, but he was also an executive and a leader. And we had all these great conversations with his journey as a leader and cultural change, which is just beautiful. Alessandra Edwards talking about as a leader and how you show up as well. And Tyann Osborne who is a friend of mine from America, we were talking about microaggressions and how they can destroy cultures and being more aware of how you show up and owning when you put your foot in your mouth or as I do have done put both feet squarely in there. Yeah, yeah, owning that and learning as you go along. So yeah, heaps.

Matt Cowdroy  

This was when you mentioned to me like I think I might have suggested to you we need to celebrate that you’ve hit 100 episodes and here we are at 101. But you mentioned going through some of the themes of the podcast that seemed like such a daunting conversation. Honestly, there are so many I’m just thinking right now in this moment, you know, what could we be sharing that’s going to be interesting to the to the people that are sharing with us right now and listening. And I’m a bit lost at the moment just to be vulnerable and authentic is that what are some of the the biggest and best themes I think what I want to ask you now, which is one of the questions I’m not sure if I shared this with you, but we’re thinking a bit more forward focus now. And the purpose of the podcast and types of conversations you’d like to be having in the future. So this is probably an opportunity for putting it out to the universe who would be your top three dream guests. If you could have anyone on the podcast in this coming, say in the coming 12 months.

Murray Guest  

So I had been thinking about this from a dream podcast guest list. And I’m cheating or I’m going big picture here, Matt. So I thought there’s three things in my life I love that start with the letter M. You might know what one of those is.

Matt Cowdroy  

It involves a bike. Mountain biking. Yes.

Murray Guest  

So mountain biking, movies and music. So then I thought okay, if I was to pick three people from those three categories. And that’s even a bit hard because of where that is. So from a mountain biking point of view, a local guy doesn’t live far from us, Jack Moore, young guy. He’s just won the Enduro World Series for mountain biking in Europe. I’d love Jack for you to come on the podcast, have a chat to you about how you did that. That was just fantastic. Danny MacAskill who we’ve talked about Matt, who is amazing on the bike, he does do mountain biking. He does a lot of trials and other things on his bike. I’d love to have Danny on. And then there’s Brandon Semenak, who does the most amazing rides and flow and speed on his bike. And he also races in the American Rally Championships for Subaru. So be great to have him on. So there’s my three from the Mountain Bike world. Now for movies, I thought, okay, I do love watching a good movie and I thought, Who would I love to talk to? And I thought, right, the three that come to mind, I’m mindful, they’re all male. So I need to change that. But Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan and Peter Jackson. If I could have conversations with them around the movies they’ve created, the stories, the worlds, their techniques.

Matt Cowdroy  

Yes, I think I heard Quentin Tarantino on a podcast once and it was, it was fascinating. I’d be pretty scared if I was interviewing him to be honest.

Murray Guest  

Well, I think the preparation would need to be good. And then I thought music, like and I have a lot of, I think broad musical tastes and you can see on my wall for those that are watching the video that I’ve got a bunch of albums on the back wall. But I came down to three people.

Matt Cowdroy  

I’m fascinated by this. Can’t wait to hear. We have quite different tastes of music as well.

Murray Guest  

So I might surprise you. I don’t know. Okay, so first one’s Paul McCartney. And here’s an example here about changing your mind. When my wife and I first got together we were talking about the Beatles and Elvis Presley and there’s a line in Pulp Fiction, where John Travolta’s character says, Are you a Beatles fan or Elvis Presley fan? Or along those lines, and I thought I was an Elvis fan. And Tammy has always been a Beatles person. And I’ve definitely shifted, I’m a Beatles person, their catalogue, what they’ve done, the impact on music, the the, the songwriting so much and so Paul McCartney I’d love to talk to him. So yes, second ones, Lady Gaga. I just feel like she has reinvented herself so many times. And she’s got such a powerful voice and would definitely love to talk to her. It’d be her or Pink actually, because Pink is amazing too. And the third one will be..

Matt Cowdroy  

There’s got to be some heavy metal in there somewhere?

Murray Guest  

The third one is James Hetfield, lead singer of Metallica. 

Matt Cowdroy  

Okay, that’s close enough to heavy, isn’t it? Yeah. That’s pretty heavy.

Murray Guest  

They’re just celebrating their 40th year of being around and James and Lars are the two original members of course, and he is as a singer and a guitarist are just, yeah, I’m a firm believer that they’ve gotten better with age. And when they play their old songs now, and I have seen them four times live. Amazing. Yes. If I could have those people next year that would be awesome.

Matt Cowdroy  

Great. And can we just get Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters as well, please?

Murray Guest  

Ah, yes. Well let’s add that.

Matt Cowdroy  

Can you just add him in for me?

Murray Guest  

Oh definitely well Dave has a new book out around storytelling?

Matt Cowdroy  

I’ve listened to it. It’s fantastic Yeah.

Murray Guest  

He is a legend. He is a legend.

Matt Cowdroy  

So Muz I’m not sure how we’re going for time. I hand the reins of controlling this back to you. Should we be wrapping up in a couple of minutes?

Murray Guest  

I think so. But I want to thank you, Matt, for the opportunity to be on the other end of the conversation. And to reflect on the conversations. There’s lots of people I could shout out even more where we’ve had all of these wonderful, inspiring conversations and I thank everyone, everyone that’s taken the time out to either reach out to me or when I’ve reached out to them they’ve wanted to be on the podcast and have a conversation and to be real and vulnerable. So I honestly want to thank all of them. I also want to thank Belinda. So Belinda is my support person, my partner in putting together the podcast notes, the insights, and then helping publish them and get them out. She does a whole bunch of other work for me. And I love her comments. Because it’s interesting. I have some conversations, I think yeah, that was a good conversation but I felt like I could have asked better questions or we could have went somewhere else in the conversation. And then some I have the conversation, I finish, and I’m like, THAT was awesome. I love that. I don’t regret or wish I’d not had any conversations. They’re all just you know, levels of goodness or greatness. But the ones where I’ve gone oh that was such a great conversation. And then Belinda sends me an email of here’s the notes, and for the ones I’ve liked, all the time she’s written oh my god, that was such a great conversation, I learned so much. And for me, it just highlights the power of partnerships and how important they are in life and in business. She’s been supporting me for years. So yeah, I want to thank everyone, I want to thank you for doing this. And I guess the other theme is, it’s definitely a journey, that the depth that we can understand ourselves and the people around us and how we show up and how we can learn and grow. It’s not a destination. There’s just so much that we can keep tapping into and doing and that’s why I love having these conversations and hopefully giving people some real practical tools and models to help them do that as well.

Matt Cowdroy  

Yeah. Your conversations you have with people are very genuine, authentic and helpful. There’s no doubt they’re helpful. And I want to thank you for your 101 episodes now so far, and I hope it continues. I know that it will be. I was going to ask you to potentially choose your favorite episode, but I don’t think I want to ask that question because I want to, I want to end my little part here by saying I think there’s a word that wasn’t included in any of our sort of preparation for this and it’s love. I’m not sure if there was an episode about love. But love is kind of like the river flowing underneath all of this I think in terms of how your guests are wanting to serve, how you’re wanting to serve the love that we have for each other, the love of humanity. So I think I just wanted to sort of reflect on that being a thread with inspired energy as well. So thank you for the love you share Murray through all your episodes and your conversations.

Murray Guest  

I love you lots and lots and I love that you’ve identified that as a theme, and my brain’s already jumped to ooh what does that look like as a theme next year!

Matt Cowdroy  

It’s the unspoken theme but it could definitely be brought into the spoken and the written so yeah, and I should do a word search on this document of some of the themes that Belinda kindly summarised and actually see if the word love does come up in there. I’m not sure.

Murray Guest  

Well, I think well people, I think love is, I think in the past love was one of those words that was a bit I wouldn’t say taboo but people were more mindful of how they used it. Yeah. Whereas I love that people yes, be mindful of it and say to people that you really mean it. But I agree it can show up in lots of different ways and the people that I’ve talked to talk about the love of what they do and the love of serving others and the love of around them and connecting so yeah, that’s a really good pickup. Thank you.

Matt Cowdroy  

Next year’s episodes are called inspired love.

Murray Guest  

Oh okay. It might attract a different bunch of listeners.

Matt Cowdroy  

Inspired love with Metallica and Paul McCartney. Thanks, Murray. I’ve really enjoyed this opportunity. Thank you.

Murray Guest  

Thanks, Matt. Great to have you here. We’ll definitely talk again on a podcast next year because we have great conversations and for anyone that is listening and wants to check out Matt and the great work that Think Productive do, go to thinkproductive.com.au. They are the productivity experts, Matt and his team help dozens of companies and 1000s of people around their productivity and tools that you can use an all parts of your life but there’s a big focus in business. So yeah, check out thinkproductive.com.au.

Matt Cowdroy  

Thanks, Murray. And next year, it’s all about love.

Murray Guest  

Alright, have a wonderful holiday season my friend.

Matt Cowdroy  

You too Murray. Thanks again.