What is a Good Life?

On the 157th episode of What Is a Good Life?, I’m joined by Matt Zeigler. Matt is Managing Director at Sunpointe Investments, Senior Editor at Panoptica (a multimedia collaboration with Epsilon Theory), and co-owner and host of Excess Returns, a podcast and YouTube channel. Through his Cultish Creative brand, he transforms complex ideas into accessible insights, helping people make better connections and approach challenges with curiosity.

Matt shares his journey from profound disconnection to finding an abundance of connection and meaning through family, work, and community. From a pivotal therapy session that changed everything to discovering the value of small, intentional experiences, he explores how building bridges instead of prisons transformed his life. This is a conversation about vulnerability, curiosity, and the courage to stop running from connection.

This episode is for anyone who feels cut off from others and is looking to find their way back—and for anyone looking to feel more optimistic about humanity.

For more of Matt's work:
Cultish creative: https://cultishcreative.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-zeigler/

For more of my work:
Contact me at mark@whatisagood.life if you'd like to explore:
- 1-on-1 coaching and online group courses: https://www.whatisagood.life/p/individual-coaching
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/
The podcast's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife/videos
My newsletter: www.whatisagood.life


00:00 — The Disconnection Question
04:16 — Three Layers of Life
06:50 — Leaving home, independence, and loneliness
10:11 — Therapy Wake-Up Call
18:02 — Learning to Share
23:23 — Small openings that build real bonds
31:38 — Rules, ladders, and inherited structures
45:26 — Energy shift after choosing alignment
50:09 — Community Comes Alive
58:18 — What is a Good Life for Matt?




What is What is a Good Life??

This isn’t a podcast about fixing you. It’s about living life more fully.
What Is a Good Life? is a long-form conversation project exploring how people actually live, feel, and make meaning of their lives. Over the past four years, I’ve sat with more than 300 people — artists, parents, executives, wanderers, therapists, and strangers — and invited them into a simple but profound inquiry: What is a good life for you?
These conversations aren’t about advice, formulas, or self-improvement. They explore presence, paradox, uncertainty, and the moments that quietly shape a life — love and loss, trust and fear, clarity and not knowing. It’s an invitations to slow down, to listen deeply, and to bring you into conversation with your own life.
New episodes weekly.