My conversation with my four sons: I dreamed about creating a health and wellness podcast and community for quite some time.  And, yes, I wanted to do it for selfish reasons - Selfish reason #1, Wellness Motivation. My plan was and continues to be to cultivate a community of people focusing on our health and wellness - sharing ideas, sharing insights and sharing motivation. Of course for my audience, but selfishly, for me too!  Selfish reason #2, Creative Energy.  I love creating content.  Identifying people I want to have conversations with, facilitating those conversations, creating a podcast story, editing the recordings, publicizing the speakers - it’s all so much fun for me.  Engaging on social media, writing blog posts, producing videos are also fun for me.  The creative outlet has been incredibly rewarding - and therapeutic too!

To pull this off I needed support, and that support has come from my family.  My wife, Magnificent Meredith is a little “microphone shy”, but she has been an amazing advisor and sounding board for me.  Another key source of support for me has been my children - Max, Jake, Aaron and Connor.  They are all in their 20s and they all understand the social media marketing world much better than I do.  So, whether it’s been advice on how to choose effective hashtags, to attracting followers, to suggesting guests, to designing my logo, to participating in my wacky Meet Mediocrity events, to creating my theme music - my boys have been incredibly supportive.  So today, on our Season One Finale of the Meet Mediocrity podcast, I’ve invited my sons to join me and share a little bit about what’s up with them, their lives and their personal health, wellness and betterment journeys.

My Conversation with Bonnie Heyman: Bonnie's journey to becoming a highly accomplished pilates instructor - an instructor who teaches other instructors - is quite an amazing journey.  Bonnie’s story began when she started taking both dance and piano lessons at the age of 6.  That combination of dance and music was obviously a natural combination for Bonnie.  To this day, when she hears music, she instantly begins choreographing accompanying dance routines in her head.  In fact, she sometimes relates pilates to a modern form of dance.

Bonnie’s story of perseverance, dedication and strength is inspiring.  Her messages of “just keep moving” and “it’s never too late to start” are messages we can all relate to.

Bonnie can be contacted for pilates instruction through her social media pages or by email at [email protected].

My Conversation with Zoe Rastegar: Many people who help people downsize, organize and relocate approach their businesses as transactional.

“How can I help you get rid of stuff efficiently?"

“How can I help you sell and make a little money from things you no longer need?”

“How can I help you get your closets and desks cleared of unnecessary things?”

All of this is important, but what makes Zoe’s approach special is that she adds an intense human-touch to these activities.  The effort she makes to really understand her clients as people, to understand their long term goals and their personal objectives is critical - because Zoe aligns the relocation and downsizing support she provides to her clients with their overall health and wellness.

And, it’s not just about downsizing senior citizens from their family homes to assisted living facilities. More and more people - millennials, empty nesters and people reconsidering their lives during COVID-19 - are looking to DO MORE AND ACCUMULATE LESS.  Zoe’s business, Life Simplified Pro (LifeSimplifiedPro.com) can help us get there!

My Conversation with Matt Grace and Robert Nolan: Matt Grace and Robert Nolan have been playing volleyball together for a very long time.  They played youth volleyball on club teams, on elite travel teams, for their high school and for their chosen college, the State University of New York at New Paltz.  They won a lot of matches together… they even helped SUNY New Paltz win the NCAA Division 3 Men’s Volleyball Championship in 2019.  So, you can imagine their disappointment when the defense of their championship and their senior year was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today’s discussion describes how they handled the news of their season ending when they first heard it, how they’ve spent the past few months since the abrupt end to their season, and you’ll hear about their plans for next year.  It’s all very impressive!

My Conversation with Dr. Dan Schaefer: Dr. Dan Schaefer is a business strategies and strategic consultant who helps his clients achieve their very best results - whether it is selling work, leading businesses, winning games or achieving personal records.  I always chuckle when Dr. Dan says that he sells mistakes.  What he means is that he helps his clients identify their likely mistakes before they make them and then he helps them avoid those mistakes.  He does that through a systematic approach.  Dr. Dan’s strategies include planning backward, positive visualizations and self-hypnosis.  His clients include corporate executives, entrepreneurs, amateur athletes and professional athletes.

The thing I love about Dan?  He is incredibly accessible.  He specifically encourages anyone interested in working with him to visit his website - DanSchaeferPhD.com or call or text him directly on 1-(917)880-6758.  

If you want to learn more about Dan's strategies and approaches to creating successful outcomes, check out his book "CLICK! The Competitive Edge for Business, Sports and Entertainment".

My conversation with Leo Palazzuoli: Leo is also an athlete I admire immensely.  His accomplishments and his work ethic from an athletic standpoint are far from ordinary.  He has run sub-3 hour marathons, he’s run ultra distance races including 100 mile trail runs in the Alps!  In fact, Leo regularly runs a marathon on the weekend just for fun.  The amazing thing though is that Leo is in his 40s and only started running 6 years ago! And in those 6 years, Leo has logged over 17,000 (at least according to Strava)!

Leo shares some great stories about his athletic adventures and he also shares some helpful tidbits that any of us can apply to any of our wellness goals.

My conversation with Hilary Topper: Hilary Topper is the owner and CEO of HJMT Public Relations, an award winning PR and social media marketing firm.  She is an adjunct professor of media studies and public relations at Hofstra University.  She is an author.  Her newest book, "Branding in a Digital World: How to Take an Integrated Marketing Approach to Building a Business", is available on Amazon and wherever you buy or download your favorite books.

Hilary is also a triathlete. Hilary has a blog called “A Triathlete’s Diary” and she sponsors her own triathlon team called WeR Triathletes - she’s even a certified triathlon coach!!

She’s a podcaster, hosting “Hilary Topper On Air”. She has a lifestyle blog entitled “New York Lifestyle Blog”.   

I can go on and on, but here’s the bottom line - Hilary is awesome.  She is approaching the trying times in which we live in a manner I relate to.  She is high energy, she’s positive, she’s continuously looking to improve herself and she is eagerly helping others improve themselves as well!!

My conversation with Bianca Velez: Bianca is a pilates instructor who is spiritual and is truly at one with nature. She not only teaches pilates, but she hosts nature retreats in Western New York where guests practice pilates, yoga, meditation, hiking and holistic fulfillment.  She studied classic pilates as originated by Mr. Joseph Pilates. She is also an avid outdoorsperson who does hiking, fishing, skiing and foraging for local herbs and medicinal plants.

Bianca has given pilates instruction to both me and my wife, Magnificent Meredith. What I have always enjoyed most about Bianca is just speaking with her about overall wellness.  I find Bianca to be fascinating in how she ties pilates, meditation and outdoor living into a recipe for holistic wellness.

Learn more about Bianca on this podcast and on her website - FindTheMidline.com

My conversation with Tom Hines: Tom Hines is an athlete.  Not a professional athlete, but what I’d call a “lifetime athlete”.  He was an athlete in high school and he’s an athlete at the age of 60.  I assume Tom will be an athlete for as long as he walks the Earth!

This conversation is rooted in athletics, but surfaces life lessons.  Lessons about seeking challenges, accepting results, and following your heart. Choosing your wellness activities and changing those wellness activities as your motivations change is completely good… as long as you are moving forward and becoming a better version of yourself.

My conversation with Tildet Varon: Some of us are looking at this unique moment in our lives, living through the great pandemic of 2020, as an opportunity to reinvent, restore, refresh, restart ourselves.  It's like having New Years resolutions with extra time to really get those resolutions off on the right track.  Here's the challenge - finding the right resolutions.  Finding resolutions that connect with our inner beings, our inner values, our souls.  Finding THOSE resolutions is a challenge - but when you find those resolutions and the true "WHY" behind those resolutions, you are well on your way towards achieving meaningful, positive changes.

In this episode, Tildet Varon, an Inner Mastery Specialist, shares her insights as to what we can all do, especially during these unique times, to find our true "WHY".  Tildet is incredibly caring, insightful, patient and positive.  Her company is called "Growing with Truth" and the name speaks for itself.  As we understand what truly drives us, we can truly grown.