Welcome to another episode of the Life Well Lived Podcast. My name is Shane Breslin and this is Episode Number 22 with Robin Grace. 

Robin Grace is someone I’ve met and got to know a little bit over the past year or so, and from a minutes into our first conversation over the phone I knew I wanted to interview him about his work at some point for this podcast.

He is a member of An Garda Siochana, which for anyone listening outside Ireland means he is a policeman. He is also the founder of a startup aimed at improving online safety for young people. The Me App is a safety first social networking app that connects young people in a meaningful way with the people who care most about them, particularly in a time of need. Robin has launched a new Kickstarter campaign which aims to raise the €75,000 needed to develop and bring to market the ME App.

Robin’s motivations for online safety and suicide prevention comes both from his work as a Garda in the community, and also from his own history of self harm and suicidal intentions, which stemmed from abuse he suffered at the hands of a female carer in his early childhood.

He speaks candidly about all of that in this episode — of being hit by the freight train of trauma while travelling through India, to how close he came to taking his own life, when a Facebook post initiated a sequence of events which led to a call from his mother, the one person he says he needed to hear from in that moment, and who did not have a Facebook account at the time so couldn’t have seen his cry for help.

He talks about the issue of technology use among teens and children, and why we need to adopt new methods of education and support rather than the self-defeating outright bans which can become the norm in schools and homes across the world. 

I hope you enjoy this episode, and if Robin’s vision for the ME App resonates with you, please do check out the ME App Kickstarter campaign here.

For all other episodes of the podcast, visit the main podcast page on my website here.

If you are struggling to cope in any way, or someone close to you is struggling, the Samaritans are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in the UK and Ireland on 116 123. For more information on the Samaritans, click here. If you are anywhere else in the world, there is a list of telephone hotlines here.

The mission of this podcast is to bring you conversations and interviews with great people all over the world about navigating the challenges of 21st century life, how we might explore and embrace our own absolute uniqueness and build on that to live lives of energy, purpose and fulfilment.

My guest on this episode is TK Kader, a US-based entrepreneur, investor, and author. 

TK has worked with some of the most respected companies and investors in the world. He spent time with Ray Dalio’s world-renowned finance firm Bridgewater, he later founded the ToutApp, which was sold to Marketo, which was in turn sold to Adobe in a multi-billion dollar acquisition. While all that is hugely commendable, and we go through that journey in this conversation, where TK really started to grab my attention this year was with his video content talking about professional burnout and strategies to manage and limit burnout in our lives. I’ve taken to calling burnout “work depression”, because the hallmarks are so similar, and I’m interested in anyone approaching these challenges of living and working in the 21st century in innovative ways. That work has led TK Kader to Unstoppable, his company which helps entrepreneurs, startup founders, business owners and executives lead more proactive lives in alignment with their core values.

He’s a really interesting guy and I really enjoyed this conversation, where we talked about the difference between a side business and a hobby, how the word “happiness” has been ruined, the three components of being a good leader, how 30 minutes on a Sunday can set you up for a powerful week and why so many people are lost, lonely and disconnected — and how we might take a proactive approach to dealing with that.

For more on TK Kader, visit https://www.getunstoppable.com/

My guest on this week’s episode is someone who I only came across online quite recently, but when I delved into his back catalogue I quickly realised that he has been offering a lot of value in some important areas for humanity as a whole. 

He is Dr Todd Dewett, and as he says to me in this episode, he’s now on career number three, having spent time with some of the major consulting firms before a stint in academia. 

That career number three is writing, speaking and overall being a thought leader in some important areas for how we live and work in the world.

Dr. Dewett is a decorated former management professor, a global leader in online education, and renowned professional speaker, and his insights have been highlighted everywhere from the New York Times to CNN to Inside Quest, Tom Bilyeu’s YouTube series for entrepreneurs.

He has published a number of books on leadership and life, including The Little Black Book of Leadership, which aims to give recently promoted managers the practical skills they need to succeed in their new role, and Show Your Ink, which encourages us to own our true authenticity, use our mistakes to serve us and outline our own personal values in order to be our best selves in work and the world at large. 

Overall, we spend roughly a third of our lives at work, and in the 80-hour-a-week hustle-and-grind culture that has taken hold that percentage is closer to half, so it’s no wonder that our work not only defines us in some significant way, but also influences our sense of fulfilment and happiness perhaps more than any other thing.

In this episode I ask Todd about the definitions of good leadership, the increasing role of technology in the workplace and its effects on our happiness and productivity, and how we should look at job satisfaction and what good leaders can proactively do to help foster that for their teams. 

We also talk about:

• The concept of good leadership, which Todd defines as "Leadership success really is best defined as the cumulative effect of many small things done correctly over time"
• Practical ways leaders can lead better in the often artificial construct of the workplace
• Why technology has not created new levels of productivity
• How to implement change by modelling behaviours, not mandating them
• Why connectivity and purpose are the two key concepts to create a great remote working environment
• How leaders can connect their team members with the bigger but perhaps less tangible outcomes everyone is working towards
• Survival tips for the new manager
• The art of avoiding micro-management
• The biggest challenges facing leaders in the world in 2019
• Why a massive generational shift is about to happen in global workplace leadership, and the positive impact that is likely to have
• How public speaking is a skill that can be developed by anyone

For more on Dr Todd Dewett check out these links:

• Dr Todd Dewett’s website
• Todd's books
• Follow Dr Dewett on Twitter
• New Manager Fundamentals LinkedIn Learning Course

Hello and you’re welcome to this episode of the Life Well Lived Podcast.

This is the show that is crystal clear on the fact that no matter who you are and where you are in life, challenges are absolutely inevitable, and the best thing all of us can do is equip ourselves with the tools to navigate those challenges and live our own life well lived.

My name is Shane Breslin and my mission in my life’s work, through my writing, coaching, speaking and this very podcast, is to provide the support, guidance and inspiration you need to help you through those challenges, so that you can know and fully embrace the unparalleled wonder of your own uniqueness, get clear on what truly matters to you, and discover a life of vitality, fulfilment and happiness.

This is Episode 19 of the podcast, and my guest is someone I’ve been paying attention to online for about a year and a half and when the opportunity came up to have him on the show I jumped at it. 

He’s an exceptionally talented writer with his own iconic style, in his books, his always-on shortform on Twitter and his longer and even more thoughtful posts on his website and email newsletters, which cover topics such as “How to know if you have a drinking problem”, “Strategies to deal with imposter syndrome” and “How to Forgive a Fucked Up World”.

Ed Latimore is a former military man, pro boxer, Physics major and high class chess player.

Mostly though, he’s a modern philosopher, so we talked about his philosophy about life and living in the 21st century. 

We chatted about his childhood growing up in the projects of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the US and what he describes as “the disease of poverty”. 

We talk about sobriety (Ed is approaching six years sober and credits this decision more than any other with putting him on a path to salvation).

We discussed what it is to be a man that people can respect in the 21st century, the phenomenon of toxic masculinity, the role of Twitter and the one action people who are stuck can take this week to start moving the dial.

For more on Ed and his story and message:

• Further reading about growing up in the ghetto: https://edlatimore.com/5-lessons-from-growing-up-in-the-hood/
• Further reading on sobriety: https://edlatimore.com/10-observations-from-2-years-of-not-drinking/
• Further reading on masculinity: https://edlatimore.com/how-to-be-an-attractive-man/
• Further reading on Twitter stuff: https://edlatimore.com/how-to-get-more-twitter-followers/

My guest in this episode of the Life Well Lived podcast is Darren Gavin.

Darren is the co-founder of the Mental Health Guys blog and has been writing and speaking about mental health in Ireland and oversees for the past couple of years. And I’ve no doubt he’s just starting out on a journey that will positively impact very many people, many of them guys, in the months and years to come. 

In this conversation we hear about:

• Darren’s mental health problems in childhood
• How they went away for most of his teens and 20s before returning with a vengeance as he approached 30
• How, when he came out the far side of that, he started to consider how he might shine a light on what so many people everywhere are going through almost every day. 
• Starting the Mental Health Guys blog that has opened doors and conversations in so many places

Darren also talks about his experiences of the way mental health is treated in the workplace, how he divides his life into compartments, why he doesn’t use the word failure, his new definition of success and lots more. 

That's Episode 18 of the Life Well Lived Podcast, with Darren Gavin of the Mental Health Guys blog.

To check out Darren's work online, visit:

• http://mentalhealthguys.com
• How can sleep pattern affect our mental health? (A Lust for Life)
• Mental Health Guys on Twitter