Mind Monkeys Welcome (Bananas Optional)

What if the secret to silencing your inner critic isn't telling it to shut up. It's inviting it in for a chat?

(Please note: this episode contains open discussion of suicide and mental health. Please be kind to yourself while listening.)

Gilly Mulford is a resilience guide, new author of Where Dandelions Grow, and someone who has faced more than most. This is one of the most honest conversations Mind Monkeys has had yet.

In this episode:

• Meet Dave. The inner critic who loses all his power the moment you stop running from him.
• Why thoughts are not facts. And the one question that proves it.
• "If you don't know what you want, start with what you don't want." The simple filter that changes everything.
• The power of the pause. And why recognising the spiral is already half the battle.
• Asking for help isn't failure. Sometimes it's the bravest thing you can do.

Bananas optional. Bravery essential.

What does 40 years in mental health teach you about your own mind monkeys? Quite a lot, as it turns out.

Liz Maughn is a mental health trainer with four decades of frontline experience and a refreshingly honest relationship with her own "I'm not good enough" story. This one goes to some powerful and important places.

In this episode:

• Why even the most experienced mental health professionals still battle imposter syndrome
• Guilt as proof of concept. You feel it because you care.
• The solopreneur's dilemma: if you fall apart, so does the business
• Why taking a week off now beats being paralysed for months later
• The one thing to do when everything feels like too much and you've run out of techniques

Bananas optional. Bravery essential.

What if your future self already has the answers? And what if your past self has the evidence you need to get there?

Samir Malak is an imagineer, poet and community builder on a mission to help people imagine a new version of themselves and then engineer it into reality. This conversation goes exactly where you'd hope it would.

In this episode:

• Why the fear monster shrinks the moment you pat it on the head and do it anyway
• The time travel coaching tool that maps your past, visits your future and drops you back in the present ready to move
• Your phone's camera roll as a rucksack full of evidence
• "Enrol people in positive possibilities." Only a poet says it like that.
• AI, the tail wagging the dog, and why love might be the missing ingredient

Bananas optional. Bravery essential.

What if fear isn't something to fix? What if it's just badly calibrated?

Ian Farrington has spent 30 years coaching senior executives through the stuff they don't talk about in the boardroom. This conversation goes straight there.

In this episode:

• Why the thing clients bring to coaching is rarely the actual problem
• Fear of the light, fear of the dark, and the difference between the two
• The 'Painted Zebra': what happens the moment you step into leadership
• "Should" is a bad habit. So is letting your inner chimp run the meeting.
• Why changing yourself creates ripples. And why you need to manage them too.

Bananas optional. Bravery essential.

What if the career you've built no longer fits the person you've become?

Daniele Brunetto has coached people through burnout, career pivots and the quiet panic of starting over. He also did it himself. This is that conversation.

In this episode:

• The monkey that whispers "but will I be good enough without my job?"
• Why "I am a coach" is a more dangerous sentence than it sounds
• "Should" vs "do you want to?" The two words that stop clients dead in their tracks
• What do you do when time just disappears? That's your answer right there
• Why having done lots of different things isn't a problem. It's your whole story.

Bananas optional. Bravery essential.

Why do so many talented coaches and creatives shrink from being visible?

Offer positioning expert and author of The Easy Yes, Janine Coombes, joins Mark for an honest conversation about the mind monkeys that whisper "don't show off" – and how to quieten them.

In this episode:

• Why visibility feels selfish – and the reframe that changes everything
• The pearls incident: how unsolicited criticism launched Janine's video career
• Pricing your offer, not your worth
• Why doing your own video editing might be the path to self-love
• Play to your strengths and double down... and stop doing everything

Bananas optional. Bravery essential.

What are mind monkeys — and why do they run the show?

In this opening episode, Mark Franklin introduces the concept that sits at the heart of this series: those unhelpful inner voices that whisper doubts, stoke fears, and talk us out of becoming our best selves.

In this episode:

• What mind monkeys are and where they come from
• The Event + Response = Outcome equation
• Why your brain leans on historic responses — and why they may no longer serve you
• How naming a fear immediately reduces its power
• What to expect from the show, the guests, and the conversations ahead

The banana skins our mind monkeys throw out are based on past experiences and learned behaviours. But here's the challenge: are those automatic responses still relevant to who you are today, and where you're heading?

Bananas optional. Bravery essential.