Just Press Record

In this episode of Just Press Record, Matt Ziegler sits down with Mat Cashman for a wide-ranging conversation about practice, performance, mastery, and the pursuit of meaningful work.

Inspired by a clip featuring Jess Bost and Tom Morgan, the discussion explores how identity, ego, and deliberate practice shape personal growth over time.

Drawing on experiences from trading, music, education, and creative work, they unpack the tension between doing what’s comfortable and pushing into the uncomfortable spaces where real growth happens.

The result is a thoughtful conversation about flow states, mastery, and why the pursuit of something meaningful may be the key to a fulfilling life.

• The idea that our “armor” or persona can prevent us from growing into our gifts

• How mastery exists within specific domains and why confidence collapses in unfamiliar environments

• The difference between practice as internal resistance training and performance as external resistance

• Why real growth requires deliberately practicing things that make you uncomfortable

• The tension between repetition and experimentation in the pursuit of mastery

• How identity changes over time and why major career transitions often take years

• The role of practice and performance in building a fulfilling and balanced life

• Why musicians, traders, and creators often experience powerful flow states

• How AI may change the value of mastery, taste, and deep focus

• The importance of pursuing meaningful work even in an uncertain future

0:00 — Introduction and the clip that sparked the conversation
3:00 — Introducing Mat Cashman and the idea behind the episode
5:45 — The CrossFit vs. volleyball story and mastery within domains
8:00 — Your armor is preventing you from growing into your gifts
10:00 — Practice versus performance and internal versus external resistance
15:00 — The pull toward comfortable practice versus real growth
20:00 — Identity change, career transitions, and the three-year rule
24:00 — Pursuit versus running away from something in life
29:00 — Music, trading, and how passions evolve over time
33:00 — AI, creativity, and the expanding gap between good and mastery
40:00 — Choosing what to pursue in an uncertain future
42:30 — Flow states in trading, music, and creative work
45:00 — Why practice and performance both matter for happiness
49:00 — The balance between learning and performing
52:00 — Where to find Mat Cashman and closing thoughts

In this episode of Just Press Record, Matt Zeigler welcomes back communications strategist and Purposeful Advisors founder Elie Jacobs to unpack the evolving role of advisors, communicators, and chiefs of staff in an era defined by constant crisis and rapid technological change.

Using a clip about the modern chief of staff role as a starting point, the conversation explores how leaders process information, how organizations identify risks before they become crises, and how artificial intelligence is transforming the nature of work, judgment, and decision-making.

The discussion ranges from political communications and corporate strategy to AI productivity tools and the future of human expertise in a machine-augmented world.

• The modern chief of staff role and why human awareness and relationship management matter more in an AI-driven workplace
• How communications advisors act as strategic partners to leadership during crises and reputational challenges
• The shift from problem solving to problem finding in modern communications and strategy work
• How organizations miss the real issue by focusing on symptoms instead of underlying risks
• The concept of Type III errors and why leaders often solve the wrong problem
• Information overload and the growing need for advisors who can sift through signals and noise
• How AI is reshaping knowledge work, productivity, and strategic thinking
• The future of consulting, communications, and data-heavy roles in an AI-driven economy
• Why soft skills and judgment may become the most valuable capabilities in the age of automation
• How professionals must rethink how they explain the value they bring to organizations
• Using AI tools to enhance productivity while maintaining human insight and creativity

0:00 Introduction and Elie Jacobs returns to the show
2:00 Purposeful Advisors and applying intelligence community thinking to communications
5:08 Rachel Goldfarb clip on the role of chief of staff in an AI-driven world
7:00 Why chiefs of staff and communications leaders must work in sync
9:00 The shift from problem solving to problem finding
12:00 Strategic communications as an advisor role for leadership
16:00 Understanding Type III errors and identifying the real problem
19:30 AI, information overload, and the need for human judgment
23:00 How AI may reshape consulting, communications, and knowledge work
27:00 Explaining professional value in the age of AI
31:00 Productivity, AI tools, and redefining work-life balance
32:30 Why professionals must better explain their contributions
33:30 Where to find Elie Jacobs and Purposeful Advisors

In this episode of Just Press Record, Matt Zeigler sits down with Morgan Ranstrom for a wide-ranging conversation about identity, artistry, business, pride, and community.

Starting with a clip from Michael Perry and Aaron Gwyn, the discussion explores what it means to grow up close to the ground and then find yourself in creative or professional spaces that feel like the wrong bus.

Morgan reflects on blue collar roots, self-promotion, building art alongside business, and why the people on your block matter more than the people on your screen.

This is a thoughtful conversation about staying grounded, letting go of pride, and choosing to build community on purpose.

Main topics covered

• Blue collar roots and what it means to feel two generations from the farm
• The feeling of getting on the wrong bus and navigating creative spaces
• Living close to the ground and staying connected to where you come from
• The tension between self-promotion and pride
• Why avoiding self-promotion can be its own form of ego
• Writing books, making music, and building a business without losing your soul
• Letting go of external validation and redefining success
• The danger of turning everything into national politics
• Parasocial relationships versus real neighbors
• Why hyper local community matters more than online tribalism
• Building bonds in your neighborhood and modeling connection for your kids
• What Morgan would do differently if dropped into a new community today

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction and the Michael Perry and Aaron Gwyn clip
06:54 Blue collar meets art and the wrong bus feeling
14:00 Growing up close to the ground in the Midwest
18:00 Politics, parasocial relationships, and local community
22:00 Building community block by block
27:00 Self-promotion, pride, and creative identity
30:00 Writing books, making music, and redefining success
33:00 Measuring your life by your own ruler
34:30 Lessons from a four-year-old about building community
35:38 Where to find Morgan and what’s next

In this episode of Just Press Record, Matt Ziegler sits down with Angie Colee to explore the tension between intuition and logic, leadership and permission, and why sometimes you simply have to say, “I will show you,” and do it anyway.

Using a powerful clip from Matthew Stafford and Matt Ackerman as the starting point, the conversation weaves through the 65% rule, minimum viable promotion, corporate versus entrepreneurial leadership, and the art of creating meaningful human experiences in a world increasingly shaped by automation.

This is a candid, energizing discussion about gut instinct, calculated risk, and building something before you feel completely ready.

Main topics covered:

• The “I will show you” mindset and why competitiveness can fuel leadership
• Trusting your gut even when you cannot fully rationalize it
• The 65% rule and giving yourself room for imperfection
• Corporate leadership versus entrepreneurial risk taking
• Minimum Viable Promotion and launching before everything is polished
• The story behind Eat Play Launch and the bulldozer event in Las Vegas
• Learning through mistakes and building in public
• Designing experiences people remember
• Balancing AI automation with human connection
• Living your message and building a life instead of just a business
• Why permission is not perfect and is part of a bigger process

Timestamps:

00:00 The “I will show you” mindset and the 65% rule
03:04 Catching up with Angie and building her consultancy
05:15 Leadership, competitiveness, and trusting your gut
09:00 When to push forward even if others doubt you
13:05 The origin story of Eat Play Launch
15:00 Minimum Viable Promotion in action
16:09 The 65% rule and forgiving imperfection
18:27 Learning through mistakes at the first event
20:18 Letting go of control in business
22:00 Designing memorable experiences
23:00 AI, automation, and preserving the human touch
24:00 Living the message and building a sustainable life
26:58 Permission is not perfect
29:26 Customer experience as incremental value
29:50 Where to find Angie and her new Substack

In this episode of Just Press Record, Matt Zeigler welcomes back Julia Duthie, host of the podcast People Are Everything (@Peopleareeverything), for a wide-ranging conversation sparked by a powerful clip featuring musicians Allison Wolfe (Bratmobile) and Brianna Collins (Tigers Jaw).

What begins as a reflection on life in bands unfolds into a deeper exploration of friendship, creative partnership, tribe, identity, and the unique magic of building scenes together.

From punk communities to podcasting, from co-creation to the loneliness epidemic, this conversation dives into why friendship may be the most underrated and unconstrained relationship in our lives.

• Why friendship may be the most special relationship because it has no rules, roles, or conventions
• The unique bond formed in bands and creative partnerships
• Co-creation and why making something together creates deeper connection
• Building scenes and communities around shared passions
• Music as a vehicle for tribe, belonging, and identity
• Crossing social groups and learning to navigate different energies
• Taking friendships and creative communities for granted
• The loneliness epidemic and the limits of online connection
• The value of long-form conversation in a short-form world
• Cultural windows, mini cultures, and the beauty of diversity

00:00 Introduction and clip from Allison Wolfe and Brianna Collins
01:53 Julia on why friendship has no conventions or rules
04:38 The musicians reflect on audience connection and long-term friendships
07:41 Julia’s first reactions to the clip
09:00 Friendship compared to romantic, family, and work relationships
11:00 Bands as a special subcategory of friendship
14:12 Co-creation and the emotional bond of making something together
16:00 Music, tribe, and identity
17:20 Navigating different social groups and creative adaptability
22:00 Taking friendship experiences for granted
24:00 Friendship as optional yet deeply meaningful
25:00 Loneliness, social media, and the loss of long-form conversation
27:00 Mini cultures, monoculture, and the Super Bowl reflection
30:29 Why Matt chose this clip and the importance of building a scene
32:00 Making real friendships through podcasting
34:05 Where to find Julia and People Are Everything

To listen to People Are Everything, search wherever you get your podcasts and connect with Julia Duthie on LinkedIn.

In this episode of Just Press Record, two very (VERY) different investors meet for the first time.

Tony Greer, a short-term macro trader who lives in the rhythm of the tape, and Bogumil Baranowski, a long-term investor focused on owning great businesses for years, sit down to explore what really drives decision-making in markets and in life.

What unfolds is a thoughtful and often hilarious conversation about psychology, time horizons, money, community, and the deeper motivations behind building something that lasts.

Plus — they're two of my favorite podcast/YouTube hosts and I couldn't believe they'd never met before!

Main topics covered:

• The psychology of selling and why parting with a winning position is so difficult
• Trading versus long-term investing and how time horizon shapes behavior
• The difference between a perfect stock and a perfect business
• Growing up in very different environments and how that shapes risk tolerance
• Lessons from options trading and learning what fits your temperament
• Using time as an edge in both trading and investing
• Building a business around community, trust, and recurring relationships
• Client alignment and the idea of managing forgotten money
• The tension between idea lunches and disciplined process
• Indirect success and why focusing on relationships often leads to better outcomes

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction and why these two had to meet
00:01 The hardest part of investing is knowing when to sell
00:03 Meet Bogumil and Tony
00:06 How they each found their way into markets
00:14 The Microsoft story and thinking about stocks vs businesses
00:18 The long-term investor’s dilemma with overheated stocks
00:22 Trading psychology and emotional attachment
00:24 Options trading lessons and knowing your temperament
00:29 Time as a weapon in markets
00:33 Owning a business vs watching a stock price
00:34 Building TG Macro and the power of community
00:46 Blue Infinity and managing forgotten money
00:56 The danger of idea lunches and forced stock picks
00:59 Talking Billions and building a platform around conversations

And if the written word is more your thing, sign up for my mailing list and you can grow your network of ideas and people alongside me:
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In this episode of Just Press Record, Matt brings together two people who have never met before and lets the conversation unfold in real time.

Jason Friedman and Drew Feldman come from very different professional paths, but quickly discover shared experiences around career risk, entrepreneurship, creativity, and the emotional reality of building something from scratch.

What starts as a conversation about work becomes a deeper discussion about identity, trust, burnout, and what it really takes to navigate uncertainty while staying true to yourself.

Topics covered in this episode

• Leaving stable careers to pursue uncertain but meaningful paths
• The emotional and psychological reality of quitting a job and starting over
• How creative backgrounds shape entrepreneurship and decision making
• Why trust, integrity, and reputation matter more than credentials
• The role of storytelling in building relationships with clients and audiences
• Balancing ambition, work ethic, and personal boundaries
• Burnout, constant connectivity, and the challenge of truly turning off
• Why human judgment and empathy still matter in an AI-driven world
• Building trust through shared values, not sales tactics

Timestamps

00:00 Why these two needed to meet and the idea behind Just Press Record
01:00 Quitting a job and the panic that comes with taking the leap
06:00 From acting and filmmaking to finance and advising
10:45 Career pivots, risk tolerance, and variable income
15:00 The emotional cost of entrepreneurship and Sunday anxiety
19:30 Creative work, grinding, and redefining success
25:00 Burnout, boundaries, and the struggle to turn off
29:00 Shabbat, forced downtime, and digital detox
35:00 Building a company, momentum, and long-term trust
38:00 AI, advisors, and why human relationships still matter
45:00 Trust, integrity, and why reputation compounds over time

In this episode of Just Press Record, Matt brings together two strangers with very different backgrounds and a shared obsession with human connection.

Carly Valancy and Spencer Kier explore how creativity, repetition, gratitude, and authenticity shape careers, relationships, and opportunities.

What starts as a conversation about networking quickly becomes a deeper discussion about practice, compounding effort, breaking rules, and finding the kind of work that pulls you forward instead of burning you out.

Topics covered

• Why creative people often follow rules that hold them back
• The idea of practice as repetition, not optimization
• Reaching out to people without asking for anything
• Gratitude as a powerful and underrated networking tool
• Building relationships for your future self, not immediate payoff
• Creating artifacts instead of transactional asks
• Authenticity, strangeness, and resisting social normalization
• Compounding habits versus compounding burnout
• Finding your edge through curiosity and compulsion
• Applying artistic training to business and professional life
• Long-term relationship building versus short-term outcomes

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction and why these two needed to meet
03:00 The Just Press Record format and guest introductions
06:20 Carly’s meet-a-person-a-day challenge
09:00 Spencer on podcasting as a tool for connection
13:00 Creating artifacts instead of asking for calls
15:00 Repetition, practice, and the power of doing simple things daily
18:30 Art, training, and learning through repetition
22:00 Breaking rules in networking and communication
25:00 Finding your uniqueness and resisting normalization
28:30 Searching for your edge and living in multiple worlds
31:00 Losing an old identity and redefining what it means to be an artist
34:00 Bringing artistic training into networking and business
38:00 Empathy, awareness, and engaging the other person
44:00 Asking better questions and creating meaningful conversations
47:00 Authenticity, strangeness, and standing out
52:00 Saying the risky thing and embracing vulnerability
57:00 Gratitude as the starting point for connection
01:02:00 Playing the long game in relationships
01:05:00 Deciding when to follow up and when to wait
01:08:00 Closing reflections on connection, curiosity, and practice

In this episode of Just Press Record, Matt Zeigler brings together Allison Wolfe and Brianna Collins for a wide-ranging conversation about music scenes, creative identity, and what it really means to realize you were there while something special was happening.

From Olympia and the Riot Grrrl era to northeast Pennsylvania DIY basements, the conversation explores how community, distance, adulthood, and urgency shape creative lives over time.

What starts as a blind introduction turns into a deeply human discussion about art, memory, responsibility, and how musicians navigate creative work alongside real-world obligations.

Topics covered

• Realizing the significance of music scenes only in hindsight
• Allison Wolfe on seeing Nirvana before they were Nirvana
• Northeast Pennsylvania DIY culture and Bri Collins’ early show experiences
• Punk, new wave, and gender dynamics inside local music scenes
• Making art without knowing where it will lead
• Adult creative life, multiple jobs, and sustaining a band long term
• DIY ethics versus management and delegation
• Teaching, touring, and balancing creative energy
• Creative urgency, imperfection, and resisting overproduction
• Music, activism, and processing the current cultural moment

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction and why this meeting matters
02:00 Identity, humility, and not realizing your impact
05:30 Introducing Allison Wolfe and Bri Collins
08:00 Album art, merch, and early DIY creativity
12:00 First shows and finding community
15:00 Seeing Nirvana before the breakthrough
20:00 Gender, scenes, and learning music pre-internet
29:00 Developing a distinct sound without trying to
35:00 Adult musicianship and multiple careers
41:00 Teaching, touring, and sustaining creative work
48:00 DIY values, management, and control
53:00 Art, activism, and the weight of the present moment
01:37 Closing reflections and future paths

And you already know we’ve got Bratmobile and Tigers Jaw stories all the way through.

With some Nirvana, Bikini Kill, Title Fight, and Menzingers thrown in for good measure, but of course.

@TigersJawMusic
@killrockstars

Watch every Just Press Record episode here:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvtu0hHezwZzURO5c2pHenPnwm30j2fnX&si=EzonzSvd8QxOxQmH

Is your attention span too short for full episodes? Try some shorts here:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvtu0hHezwZwyApHEc6J2P04ChhzJQrcZ&si=bwC-LWp5Jxr1nbCP

And if the written word is more your thing, sign up for my mailing list and grow your network of ideas and people alongside me:
https://cultishcreative.com/

In this episode of Just Press Record, host Matt Zeigler brings together two writers from very different worlds who discover how much they actually share. Author and musician Michael Perry and writer and professor Aaron Gwynn connect over farm life, physical labor, creative discipline, and the unlikely paths that led them to writing books. What begins with stories of rural upbringing and lost fingers turns into a deep conversation about mentorship, gratitude, art, politics, and staying grounded in a world driven by abstractions and online outrage.

Main topics covered

• Growing up on farms and ranches and how physical labor shapes perspective

• Stories of injury, toughness, and humor in working-class communities

• How mentors and teachers recognize talent before you do

• The discipline of practice in athletics, music, and writing

• Finding confidence through critique rather than praise

• Imposter syndrome as a source of gratitude and motivation

• Creativity, literature, and making art without losing touch with real people

• The danger of parasocial relationships and losing community to politics

• Why staying human matters more than choosing sides

Timestamps
00:00 Introduction and why these two writers needed to meet
01:00 Farm life, injuries, and the humor of hard work
06:00 Rural upbringing, cattle, and growing up working-class
18:00 Toughness, storytelling, and blue-collar humor
25:00 Lost fingers, accidents, and adapting through skill
35:00 Music, guitar, and physical limitations as creative fuel
39:00 Aaron Gwynn’s path from ranch life to writing books
46:00 Michael Perry’s path from nursing to writing and storytelling
52:00 Positive imposter syndrome and gratitude for unlikely success
59:00 Politics, parasocial relationships, and real human connection
01:01:00 Art, community, and staying grounded in a divided world