Mere Mortals Conversations

Do you want to delve into the mindset of an entrepreneur running two companies at the same time? Nic Blair was the Australian Young Entrepreneur of 2019, founder of Search Factory and cofounder of Brus Media. In this interview Juan and Nic discuss his starting from humble beginnings/early failures and the mindset (and work ethic) that is required to grow a successful business. Nic also has a passion for cars and shares some of his current play toys and visions for future acquisitions.
Also in this conversation where: Nic's two most influential books, his fitness regime and experiences with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, using happiness as a superpower for overcoming stress/pressure, his role models and the traits they exhibit as well as the ability to look forward while dealing with adversity. As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!
Timeline:0:00 - Introduction1:08 - Nic's Mere Mortal Moment3:14 - The entrepreneur mindset and early failures8:20 - Looking forward to persevere12:19 - Nic's business journey16:48 - Car's and motorbikes23:09 - Keeping loose and happiness superpower33:07 - Hard work and effort36:19 - Moving on from what's not working38:42 - BJJ and fitness43:18 - Influential books45:56 - Goal setting and accountability49:12 - Role models and the future53:31 - Reach out to Nic
Connect with Nic:https://au.linkedin.com/in/nic-blairhttps://www.instagram.com/itsnicblair/
About Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Daily uploads @ 5pm AEST. 4M's, Book Reviews, Musings, Bonus, Themed Podcast, Interviews & Meanderings.
Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

Do you struggle to hold yourself accountable and do what is the right thing? In this themed episode Juan and Kyrin discuss the topic of 'Discipline'. The crew start off as usual with the MMM's/definition before diving into whether the concept is something that they think about often in their day to day life. For Kyrin it has a bit too much of a negative connotation and he prefers to use other language, whereas Juan constantly uses it to motivate himself to do the hard things even while tired or stressed out.
Also included in the conversation were: some tips/tricks of how to cultivate discipline, the difference between moderating something enjoyable but damaging versus something unenjoyable but healthy, the additional concept of 'willpower' and how it is similar but different from discipline, intrinsic motivation and why neither of the Mere Mortals like to reward themselves with treats, some hypotheticals on just how tyrannical they would be as parents before summing up everything in a neat little bow. As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!
Timeline:0:00 - Intro & Mere Mortal Moments3:17 - Reason for topic and definition/etymology7:05 - Is the concept of self-discipline useful16:29 - Stopping bad things (vices)26:09 - Ways to be disciplined27:22 - Willpower vs discipline33:11 - Harder to moderate a pleasure or cultivate a habit?36:10 - Don't wait for it to feel right38:52 - Intrinsic motivation and rewarding yourself with treats43:03 - How would you discipline your kids?48:45 - How to balance forgiving yourself vs flogging yourself52:17 - Calorie deficit & splurging54:26 - When is discipline harmful?58:07 - Generic, unhelpful advice1:01:37 - Regression to the mean1:04:49 - Looking sharp and tune in for more
About Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Daily uploads @ 5pm AEST. 4M's, Book Reviews, Musings, Bonus, Themed Podcast, Interviews & Meanderings.
Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

For this short bonus conversation, Juan and Kyrin were joined by Marty for a little bit of talking shit and reminiscing. This was a little bit of an experimental conversation so the audio and video quality might be at a true Mere Mortals level. Touched upon in this convo were: the deceptive smallness of the Mere Mortals studio, exercise & breaking the rules, some memories of Brisbane's party scene from the 90's, the changes of technology on the past/future and some contrarian views that the gang hold. As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!
Timeline:0:00 - The inside of the warehouse0:53 - Working out and breaking the rules.2:27 - Brisbane in the 1990's6:44 - The sexual market before the invention of smart phones7:58 - Extremely contrarian views that we hold11:11 - Travel and coronavirus restrictions14:01 - Feeling young and not needing sleep15:34 - Technology is going to be huge
About Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Daily uploads @ 5pm AEST. 4M's, Book Reviews, Musings, Bonus, Themed Podcast, Interviews & Meanderings.
Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

Is it worth reading classical books in today's day and age? In this episode of 'Musings' Juan and Kyrin discuss: that bitch Tina who is in every workplace, how the shit talk you throw out immediately comes back round and bites you, Kyrin's learning from spending time out and about with friends, mindsets/running/planning, before finishing up with some interesting experiments that have been done on rhyming, priming and whether we have free will.
Timeline:0:00 - Intro & Mere Mortal Moments2:17 - Needing to vent about bitches at work4:14 - Life will spit right in your face5:00 - Are you spending your time in a productive way?9:15 - Are classic books all they are cracked up to be?17:44 - The problem with 'fake it til you make it'19:13 - Running 10 km for the first time21:18 - When you fail to plan, you plan to fail24:14 - The power of rhyming26:03 - Playing mind games27:56 - Touching upon determinism and free will30:08 - Comment on the book reviews
As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!
About Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Daily uploads @ 5pm AEST. 4M's, Book Reviews, Musings, Bonus, Themed Podcast, Interviews & Meanderings.
Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

The buy in, attributed in some forms to the Crossfit term for something you must complete before the main workout, can be expanded across further realms as a way to form habits.
As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!
About Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Daily uploads @ 5pm AEST. 4M's, Book Reviews, Musings, Bonus, Meanderings, Interviews & Themed Podcast.
Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_mediaFacebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

How much corruption actually goes on in the stock market? In this episode of 'Meanderings' Juan and Kyrin discuss: getting older and the way you take care of yourself after a big night out, instances of dodginess and corruption amongst different companies and countries, getting decent REM sleep for less hours of actual sleeping, running barefoot and little kids needing orthopaedics, humans not getting enough roughage and the need to eat glass (joking!!) and our new camera acquisition.
Timeline:0:00 - Intro & Mere Mortal Moments3:24 - How would you attack the next day after a big night out?10:08 - Dodgy stock market and corruption18:58 - Juan's sleeping patterns20:47 - Why Juan dislikes rowing23:41 - Running barefoot26:28 - Eating glass and breaking teeth29:21 - 4k camera glory
As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!
About Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Daily uploads @ 5pm AEST. 4M's, Book Reviews, Musings, Bonus, Themed Podcast, Interviews & Meanderings.
Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

Could you live in a van/truck for 4 years of your life? Chrissie Junge is a soon to be author as well as the Brisbane Girl In A Van. Chrissie packed in traditional housing in favour of a bare metal delivery truck, and lived around Brisbane’s greenery in its rough truck bed while slowly teaching herself to build it into a comfortable tiny house.
In this conversation Juan and Kyrin asked Chrissie all of their accumulated questions of living out of a van and becoming a children's author. These included: that first night experience in the new style of living, practical matters of storage and liveability, challenges and highlights of living in her truck, how to write a children's book and spreading her message of the value of family/home. As always, we hope you enjoy! Mere Mortals out.
Timeline:0:00 - Introduction0:56 - Chrissie's Mere Mortal Moment2:01 - The beginnings of moving into a van6:53 - The awful first night11:17 - Storage space and van life enthusiasts16:23 - Biggest challenge of living in a truck18:56 - Writing a children's book23:31 - The value & importance of family and home27:24 - Transitioning to living in a house33:00 - The speed of Harry the truck34:24 - Find Chrissie's book and interact with her
Connect With Chrissie:https://www.chrissiejunge.com/https://www.instagram.com/brisbanegirlinavan/https://www.facebook.com/chrissiejungeauthor/https://twitter.com/chrissie_junge
About Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Daily uploads @ 5pm AEST. 4M's, Book Reviews, Musings, Bonus, Themed Podcast, Interviews & Meanderings.
Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

What is calisthenics and why are bodyweight movements useful? In this themed episode Juan and Kyrin discuss the topic of 'Calisthenics'. Calisthenics has become a large part of Kyrin's life since he began practicing 3+ years ago. Essentially it is a system of body weight exercises (dynamic and static) revolving around the fundamental movements of pushing and pulling. For example, the most basic exercises are pushups, pullups, planks, dips and air squats.
In the conversation Juan and Kyrin cover: why you should focus initially on the fundamental movements (no matter your strength level), personal observations from practicing calisthenics, how the body can move from an engineering point of view, the benefits of availability/community/Vitamin D and a suggestion of some resources to follow if you are interested in getting started. As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!
Timeline:0:00 - Intro & Mere Mortal Moments4:14 - What is calisthenics?5:51 - Kyrin's backstory of starting8:02 - The fundamental movements12:10 - Benefits of going from basic to advanced16:04 - Uselessly weak action heroes16:56 - Holy damn moments19:12 - Dynamic calisthenic exercises24:33 - What to focus on when starting?28:37 - Calisthenics from an engineering viewpoint32:44 - Anywhere and anytime36:41 - Getting outdoors and Vitamin D40:56 - Any questions, reach out to the MM's
About Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Daily uploads @ 5pm AEST. 4M's, Book Reviews, Musings, Bonus, Themed Podcast, Interviews & Meanderings.
Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

Have you tried the new Triller social media app (the competitor to TikTok) and did you find your user experience as shit as Juan did? In this episode of 'Musings' Juan and Kyrin discuss: Juan's theory of personal relativity that relates to subjective opinions, the polyglot community and speaking Spanish in a stilted, mechanical manner, the requirement of +95% comprehension when reading 2nd language books, taking the time to slow down in the moment to avoid making costly mistakes and the terrible user experience of Juan when trying out the new Triller social media app. As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!
Timeline:0:00 - Intro & Mere Mortal Moments4:08 - The theory of relativity10:41 - Mechano Kyrin14:01 - Reading comprehension in another language18:56 - You need to slow down to speed up!23:43 - A good indicator of when you should slow down27:54 - Triller: a shit social platform31:41 - A minimum viable product33:40 - Juan enjoys talking!
About Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Daily uploads @ 5pm AEST. 4M's, Book Reviews, Musings, Bonus, Themed Podcast, Interviews & Meanderings.
Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

The theory of relativity usually encompasses two interrelated theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity. Today however, we spin this around into the Mere Mortal take on relativity.
As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!
About Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Daily uploads @ 5pm AEST. 4M's, Book Reviews, Musings, Bonus, Meanderings, Interviews & Themed Podcast.
Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_mediaFacebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show