Remote Pep Talks with Ryan Millar

Gardening and Repair

Sometimes you don't realise something needs attention until you finally have time to look at it. In this episode of Remote Pep Talks, Ryan talks about gardening, home repairs, a car that was mysteriously filling with water, and the slightly overwhelming realisation that life is basically one long list of things that need tending.
The house is one thing. But so are your body, your work, your friendships, your marriage, your kids — all the things you care about.
It's easy to keep knocking off whatever's next on the list. It's harder, and more exhausting, to stop and look at the whole picture.

Ryan also reflects on Die Empty, a book he's been reading and enjoying, and a question that's been on his mind: if today really mattered, would the way you're spending it reflect the people and things that matter most to you?

Maybe taking care of a plant isn't so different from taking care of a life. Like... your own life.

In this episode:

• Are you noticing what's been quietly neglected?
• What happens when you stop looking at life as a list of separate tasks?
• Are your actions matching the people and things that matter most to you?
• What does caring for a plant have to teach us about caring for a life?
• Why sometimes you just need to do the thing — and get it out there?

Remote Pep Talks with Ryan Millar is a podcast about communication, confidence, work, creativity and figuring out how to be a human being while doing all of it.

This is something different. I told a story at Mezrab and it was recorded. As part of my work on developing a new hip-hop storytelling show I talked about a very distant brush with possible fame, on the theme of Bittersweet. So, no pep talk, per se, but still, a pretty nice story, recorded live. Enjoy! 

Ryan broadcasts from a spaceship to talk about a risky experiment with EU food safety negotiators—and why the world needs more A+ attempts instead of guaranteed C+ outcomes.

Episode Summary:

Ryan takes you to space (sort of) to talk about a trip to Brussels, where he ran communication sessions for 60+ food standards negotiators—despite knowing nothing about food standards. Instead of playing it safe, he designed a custom negotiation game called Space Race Quest: personas with conflicting priorities, made-up planets, and real practice in listening, clarifying, and finding compromise. It could have flopped. It didn't.

This episode is about the case for trying the risky thing—the work that only you can offer—instead of settling for lukewarm.

Remote Pep Talks with Ryan Millar
Episode: Setting Sail on New Ventures

Episode Summary
Ryan once dismissed sailing as an elitist pastime. But after stepping aboard tall ships at SAIL Amsterdam, he discovered something else entirely: sailing is rebellion, discipline, and freedom all at once. In this episode, Ryan unpacks how the craft of sailing offers powerful lessons for launching new ventures — including his own with Dashwell, a company helping people communicate with clarity, presence, and impact.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why real freedom is built on discipline, competence, and teamwork.
• How to “put miles beneath the keel” when starting something new.
• What sailing can teach us about leading, adapting, and showing up fully.

Key Quotes

• “Sailing is the ultimate ‘forget convention’ move — it’s freedom earned through skill.”
• “Even in calm waters, you’re always working your ship. Progress never happens on autopilot.”
• “Launching something new means casting off — even if the horizon feels uncertain.”

Your Pep Talk
Whether you’re sitting on an idea, halfway through a project, or ready for a new chapter, this is your invitation: cast off, adjust your sails, and set your course. The discipline and craft you bring will carry you further than you think.

Ryan’s New Venture
This episode is also the beginning of Dashwell — Ryan’s new coaching and training company that blends improvisation, storytelling, and presence to help professionals thrive when it matters most.
👉 Learn more at www.dashwell.org

Credits
Sailboat sounds: Studio Nowhere
Music: Josh “Bone 40”

We're going back into the vault and reissuing some old episodes. Enjoy this one in which Ryan dives into the topic of imposter syndrome, which let's be honest, is probably something you've wrestled with in the past. Hopefully successfully, though it's likely an ongoing battle.

This is not just about turtles, it's about memorization, persistence and meaning making.

Also, here's the poem Turtle, by Kay Ryan

Who would be a turtle who could help it?

A barely mobile hard roll, a four-oared helmet,

she can ill afford the chances she must take

in rowing toward the grasses that she eats.

Her track is graceless, like dragging

a packing-case places, and almost any slope

defeats her modest hopes. Even being practical,

she's often stuck up to the axle on her way

to something edible. With everything optimal,

she skirts the ditch which would convert

her shell into a serving dish. She lives

below luck-level, never imagining some lottery

will change her load of pottery to wings.

Her only levity is patience,

the sport of truly chastened things.

Sometimes events can bum us out, big things out of our control. In that case, let's focus on what we can manage. In this episode, which happens to take place on the sidelines of a community football match, Ryan lays out three things that you can focus on to help you power through. 

Ryan talks the importance of finishing work, and to prove the point he shares a rap song he made a few years ago, that actually turned out to be pretty good. Finish your things. Not all of them, of course.

Ryan takes a walk in the woods and discusses the importance of taking steps, both physical and figurative.

Topics covered include podcasting, push-ups, housework and parenting. 

A delightful, wide-ranging and in-depth chat with the fascinating and delightful Jillian Vorce of the Jillian Group. 

In addition to being an exceptionally good hang, Jillian is a B-Corp consultant, podcaster, and speaker with a heart for sustainability. In this episode we look back at how she started her agency, grew it so rapidly, and how and why she ended up changing directions in her personal and professional life, and what all of that has taught her.