Mere Mortals Conversations

Have you ever been stuck in an IQ-killing, mind numbingly boring, uselessly impotent work meeting? In this episode of 'Musings' Juan and Kyrin discuss: the reasoning process between going for short term gains while taking long term damage, sleep and how much is necessary for the Mere Mortals, verbal fillers of like and ummm, a collection of differences between Juan/Kyrin and why they work well together and terrible communication patterns resulting in absolutely useless work meetings. That's it for today, hope you enjoy. Mere Mortals out!

Timeline:0:00 - Introduction & Episode #100 surprise2:43 - Short term gain vs long term damage6:04 - 4 hrs sleep per day9:15 - Kyrin's experimentation with sleep cycles16:08 - Liiiiiiikkkkkkkkkeeeeeee24:42 - What life expects from us26:53 - Spontaneous vs Known challenges30:42 - The magic element33:16 - Would you be your own friend?37:20 - Terrible communication and useless meetings43:59 - Juan's life maxims48:03 - Recommended MM episodes and outroSupport the show

Building on our discussion of Gullibility not too long ago, Juan take's on the topic of self-distortion.
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

Would Kyrin face the criminal justice system if cars became sentient and exposed his abusive relationship? In this episode of 'Meanderings' Juan and Kyrin discuss: role models who have had a significant impact on their lives, not allowing external factors to kill your passions, creating a brand to rival Mcdonald's, a couple of fun 'what if' questions regarding cars/exercise and the strangeness of caffeine addiction.
Timeline:0:00 - Outdoor introduction0:40 - Are you neurotic about certain things?4:20 - Who has influenced you the most that you've never interacted with?10:23 - The utility of philosophy14:50 - Social media, marketing and creating a brand21:27 - Kyrin is an abusive parent to his car32:03 - 1000 muscle-ups or 50,000 push-ups35:29 - The addictions of caffeine39:40 - Wandering Mexico in search of sugar42:35 - Outdoor outro
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

This week Juan got the chance to chat with John Vickers. As a senior executive, John has held the positions of General Manager, Vice President, CEO, CIO, Partner, and State Manager, in the Private, Public and Not-for-Profit sectors. His rich and varied life have led him across assignments that spanned the UK, USA, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
This interview was far reaching, beginning our conversation with running at a young age and progressing to taking on the Comrade's marathon (It is the world's largest and oldest ultramarathon race at 90km of length). From here we explored the rich history of South Africa, his time of national service, some of the founding principles and learnings he has gathered from life, as well as the books he is currently writing to help share some of the key pillars he believes every individual should focus on. As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!
Timeline:0:00 - Introduction2:00 - Getting involved in marathons9:00 - Giving it 100%12:30 - 25 Years of service14:00 - Never just one learning to takeaway and discpline19:35 - An MBA, what you need before undertaking it28:50 - Safety and security34:45 - Pareto's principle40:00 - Feel sad, but get over it. Being Human.53:35 - Communication and triggers55:30 - Anyone past or present to have a conversation with1:10:30 - The definition of a perfect day
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_mortal...Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

If you are easily tricked and gullible, fear not the Mere Mortals are here!!! In this themed episode Juan and Kyrin discuss the topic of 'Gullibility'. Before diving in the team want to give a big shout out to all those who have joined us for our journey so far. The team has just passed the 1 year anniversary of starting the podcast and we feel like we are just getting started!
To start off the conversation, the Mere Mortals ask themselves if they are gullible? This leads into talking about the power of good story, with a good example of this being the flesh eating bananas taking over the world. Gullible is an sneaky word as the definition initially seems simple, but as one gets into its intricacies it seems to become less clear. The convo ends on a more philosophical note, exploring the base nature of humans and whether we need to protect ourselves from being too trusting. As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!
Timeline:0:00 - Introduction & Kyrin's hyperventilation error1:36 - Mere Mortal Moments6:58 - Definition & etymology9:32 - Are the Mere Mortals gullible?13:36 - The power of a good story18:36 - Flesh eating bananas21:33 - Honing in on the definition28:05 - Sticky nuggets30:11 - Fake news and conspiracy theories32:03 - The downsides of being gullible33:50 - Well informed people could be more gullible37:01 - Are humans naturally trusting or doubting?39:51 - Immunising ourselves from gullibility43:02 - Connect with the Mere Mortals
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

Life is like a room filled with suffering, locked on the outside by a guy in a silly hat. In this episode of 'Musings' Juan and Kyrin discuss: enjoying/reflecting on the small wins and not needing the big life changing moments, Juan's morning routine to ground himself, Man's Search For Meaning and 3 ways to find it, some analogies for life and the inherent nature of suffering and allowing yourself to lose hobbies/work/whatever and replacing it with something else. As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!
Timeline:0:00 - Introduction0:39 - A long series of small gratifying events6:38 - Reflecting on the small moments8:07 - Grounding through a sight, sound and smell13:35 - Kyrin's pivot validation14:30 - 3 ways to find meaning17:56 - The use of humour through suffering21:00 - Suffering will expand to the size of the room24:48 - Analogy vs analogy27:25 - Stepping outside the room of suffering29:11 - A certain enjoyment is lost when one reaches a deep level33:13 - Juan's not allowed to train!34:11 - Outro and the meaning of life
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_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

A Monday morning and you feel DOWN! What to do? Juan takes us through this very feeling on a fine Monday.
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_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

Can we actually predict the innate character/personality of someone, solely based on their face? Juan and Kyrin try and answer this question in this themed episode of 'Physiognomy'. The definition of physiognomy is hard to pin down, explaining why it actually appears to be a combination of science, pseudoscience and art. The debate also gets muddled due to the underlying nature vs nurture argument that rears its head after sufficient discussion.
This led to a more practical discussion on whether judging people based on their appearance is useful. Whilst we all do this to some degree or another (i.e., consciously or subconsciously) it really does appear that context is the determinant for utility. In the future we may find that this subject becomes more relevant as AI and data-driven analysis of facial features (taken from Facebook for example) allow us to statistically prove that certain people's exteriors infer a greater propensity for certain actions, whether good, bad or neutral. As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!
Timeline:0:00 - Introduction1:14 - Mere Mortal Moments4:52 - Definition and etymology of physiognomy7:21 - Is it a science, pseudoscience or art?14:23 - Nature vs nurture and tighter definition21:13 - Judging a book by its cover, is it useful?28:12 - Context is everything33:00 - Conscious vs subconscious judging36:11 - AI and physiognomy43:54 - How to make physiognomy a real science49:09 - Trump has the eyes of a blue whale!51:26 - Outro and the physiognomy of the Mere Mortals
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_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

This week Kyrin got the chance to chat with Jacqui Ooi, the host of the 'What She Did Next' podcast. Jacqui has had an intriguing career, first starting off as a journalist/editor in woman's magazines before heading into the NGO sector and working in senior communications roles for large charities (notably ChildFund Australia and The Smith Family).
Recently she decided to start her own podcast, focusing particularly on woman who have had non-standard career paths. Jacqui also shares Kyrin's love of travel and we went over some of her travel stories and times when you can feel unsafe in strange situations. To finish we had a couple of quick questions related to travel destinations, books and setting deadlines. This was a great conversation and we highly recommend you check out some of her episodes (a personal favourite was the one with Hetty McKinnon). As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!
Timeline:0:00 - Introduction1:21 - Mere Mortal Moment3:37 - Recap of Jacqui's career6:11 - What drew her to journalism9:54 - The changing face of journalism & communications14:21 - Career transition into NGO's and charities19:24 - Downsides of voluntourism25:27 - Showing progress vs highlighting problems27:19 - Intrinsic motivation for WSDN podcast35:54 - How Jacqui chooses guests39:38 - Solo gap year at a young age46:45 - Unsafe situations while travelling53:17 - Next place to go after coronavirus56:44 - 'Becoming' by Michelle Obama1:01:47 - Setting yourself deadlines1:05:31 - Wrap up and how to connect with Jacqui
Connect with Jacqui:Website: https://whatshedidnext.com.au/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatshedidnextpodcast/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatshedidnextpodcast
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_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show

Have you had an intense interaction with someone trying to convert you to 'insert religion here'? In this episode of 'Meanderings' Juan and Kyrin discuss: Kyrin's recent interaction with a crazy Jehovah's Witness, the best argumentative method to change another person's mind and the type of Mere Mortals mind states that leave the crew in their weakest and strongest positions.
Timeline:0:00 - Introduction1:37 - Crazy lady and her JW org conversion attempt3:45 - Was the crazy lady a great sales person?6:01 - How would you try and change your own mind?10:13 - The type of people who will change their mind rapidly14:12 - Trying to change another person's mind19:11 - Basing someone in reality23:41 - The only sane person in an insane world25:34 - Communicating in a slow, logical, smooth manner30:13 - Building rapport32:45 - When are you at your strongest/weakest?38:30 - Emotions controlling your decisions41:57 - The new Mere Mortals website
As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!
About Mere Mortals:Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Daily uploads @ 5 pm 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_media/Facebook: https://facebook.com/MeremortalsmediaSupport the show