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Tyson Popplestone is a Comedian from Melbourne Australia. Join him for a brand new interview each week.
Tyson:
I reckon we're about seven years overdue in all honesty. It was funny getting ready to record this podcast because I know you came on here last year, but man, nothing beats the days of sitting in a studio apartment in London on that tiny little table trying to record a podcast. Like we're an old hand at this, but we might be a little bit out of practice, but very good to have you back on.
Matt:
Bro that OGs! This is where it all began!
Tyson:
So much fun, man. I was laughing with Jesse the other day, just talking about how like that time has gone ridiculously fast. The old for everyone listening, Maddie and I used to host a podcast together called intention. And we'd catch up on a, like a weekly or fortnightly basis when we were both living in London and, um, just talk about whatever it was that was, was going on and it was, it was cool because we were pretty new friends back at the time. We'd only met a few months earlier. And I think we were both pumped about the fact that were pretty much the same age, but pretty much the same interests and felt like it was like a really comfortable kind of, it was an excuse to have a bit more of a meaningful conversation, I felt. It's so easy to catch up with your mates and just talk shit for an hour, which is fun as well. But I mean, whenever there's a podcast recording taking place, it's a good excuse just to chat about, whether it's something a little bit more serious, a little bit more meaningful, or a good excuse just to find out what's going on beneath the surface.
Matt:
Yeah, I love that bro. Similar age, same age, similar interests, but you're way better looking than me.
Tyson:
That's not what Jessie says. Jessie says you gotta hold on to him, Bo, because if anything happens to you, she's cutting it real hard.
Matt:
No, I know that's your go-to line.
Tyson:
What's happening man, what's going on up in Sydney? You've been clocking up a few miles this week?
Matt:
have bro yeah um just getting in those long longer weekend runs so got 30 out the other weekend which was um which was pretty which was fun which was yeah i really enjoyed it two and a half hours on the jog um did 25 last weekend um and yeah just sort of tracking towards this marathon in september bro which it's actually about six weeks away so coming up pretty quick
Tyson:
How many
Matt:
um
Tyson:
half marathons have you done now?
Matt:
Um, maybe like five or six. Yeah.
Tyson:
Yeah, yeah, you're going to have no trouble. That's pretty good. Like a, cause you're old man and your mom stopped by to visit a new place. We've just moved location, same town, different house. And obviously just around the corner is ocean Grove where your folks are based. And they popped in for a morning tea and to give my boy a couple of presents, which is, which is always good. And yeah, Dino was telling me that you went out for 30 K that morning, which is like for six weeks out. That's a, that's a nice. That's a nice number to get under your belt. Always, like with the athletes that I'm coaching, I try and get them to do like four to five runs of like between 30 and 35K or 30 and 32K, maybe with one slightly longer one. But if you're running that fairly comfortably, it's amazing on race day, hey, how all of a sudden you just get into a bit more of a flow. And as long as you don't overcook yourself in that first sort of half marathon, the first 28, 30Ks, that last 12K, I reckon you can just get done. Assuming, you know, you've... done some form of hydration and getting a little bit of fuel in the tank along the way.
Matt:
Yeah, yeah, no, I'm excited. I'm, um, I'm excited to see what is thrown up on the day actually. And, um, kind of excited for the mental challenge. I think for the last dozen or so kilometers there, you know, just to see what, how the body responds and then how the mind sort of reacts, um, and just to be completely out of that comfort zone. Cause I'm sure it's going to hurt. Um, so yeah, probably be a bit nervous on the day, but looking forward to it.
Tyson:
Dude,
Matt:
Um,
Tyson:
I did my first marathon when we got back from London, 2018. And it was funny because I was maybe a little bit naive slash a little bit, not arrogant, but just unaware of the difference between running at like a decent level as a middle distance runner and what's required to actually get out there and do a proper marathon. And I was, I wasn't. Like yo, I was trying to have a red hot crack in the sense that I'd been training with some good runners and they'd started saying, Oh no, you're in pretty good form. And I was like, well, you're a real fast marathon runner. So I guess I'll just aim to run what you run. And dude, I did one 30 K run. Um, and I remember that run feeling pretty hard. And I was like, no, I think I'll be, I think I'll be right. And then it came to race day. And I remember I went through the first half in like an hour 19 and I was like, dude, running is the easiest thing in the world. This is such a jog. Tice is back. And then bro, I hit 22k and I was like, I don't think I'm going to finish. This is the nastiest experience, but you're right. That last, and you hear about it hitting the wall or just the pain that you go through in those last 10 to 12 Ks. Hopefully not earlier like my experience was, but it really is such a mental challenge. I remember getting to 30, 32 K probably and being like, all right, Tyce, just all you're going to do for the next one K. you're gonna clock it in five minutes. So here comes the 32K mark. At 33K, you need to be there in five minutes. I would hit my watch and dude, I remember getting about 40 meters in and I was like, yeah, there's no more five minute K's taking place. I had like little cute fragile old ladies running past me, giving me encouragement. So dude, as long as you are, I mean, as long as you have a better experience than me, well, in fairness, I'm still coming back trying to run another one. So it can't have been too bad.
Matt:
Yeah, no, fingers crossed. Fingers crossed, mate. Um, um, yeah, hopefully I'll be semi-decently prepared, I think for that one. But, um, yeah, those, those are the little marathon old ladies though. You don't underestimate them. They're, they're warriors. They just, they just chug on past and just keep on going all day. Hey, so, um, definitely can't judge a very humbling. But yeah bro, how's your training going? What's going on?
Tyson:
Oh man. Well,
Matt:
Why
Tyson:
actually,
Matt:
are
Tyson:
dude,
Matt:
you running bro? Like what's the motivation? Talk to me.
Tyson:
I think part of it is obviously, cause it was such a big part of my life for so many years. I was obsessed with running and I was, I was pretty good at it just based on effort. Like I don't think I was an unbelievable talent by any means, but it was just for me, it's sort of multifaceted. Like I know anyone who's passionate about anything, whether it's like a, a game or a sport or. I mean, just insert anything. There's so many layers to it that keeps me coming back. And I think part of it is like, I really operate well when I've got some form of structure in my life. Like whether it's a work structure or a structure to make sure I'm going out with my kids. And I think one of the best ways I've found to get structure is in and around exercise. And for me, for ages, I was just going out a few times a week and I'm like, I feel like going for a run today, I'll do that. I feel like going to the gym today, I'll do that. And it was... I mean, it was good. I felt fit. I felt healthy. I was enjoying it mostly. I mean, there's always some days where you finish up and you're like, that was unenjoyable. But I think what I missed was having like a structured running plan that actually served a purpose. And so because I'm doing so much running coaching and each week I'll sit down and I'll plan like a week of an athlete's training that I'm helping, like mostly marathon runners, community level marathon runners. I would write the training program and just start getting the bug for myself. Like, Oh, this looks so good. Just seeing the phase that I was putting them into and the sessions that I was doing and why I was doing it. I was like, Oh, it'd be kind of, kind of interesting just to see if I put this same level of structure into my own running, what level I could get at with in the marathon, because I've never really targeted the marathon properly before. So that was one. And then just the excitement of seeing improvement when you, when you lay down a couple of weeks of training, especially cause I'd never been. like the last five years, I hadn't really been doing anything too, too structured or too specific. I wasn't really getting a chance to see any improvement. But then over like, I started doing some preparation in about January and then by sort of early February, mid February, I was like, man, like this is, this is incredible. How much more comfortable, like whether it was four or four minute 20 Ks felt compared to what it did six weeks earlier. So I think it's a combination of just feeling good with structure, feeling good physically and seeing that improvement. Um, and dude, like there's no, I don't think there's a better way to start your day than getting out for like a long run, especially when, when the sun's shining. Um, like blue skies, maybe a little bit cool. I come home and I'm just like a better bloke. So, I mean, it's just, it's all ticks, which is, yeah, which is good. But you, you've come from like a different background to me. I remember us going for a run on one of our road trips in London. It was the first time we ran together and bro, you just, like you were, you were pretty, pretty thick. in the sense that you'd spend a lot of time in the gym, your biceps looked good, you had a large torso, you still do. But I remember starting to go out for a run with you there and thinking, man, he's got a decent engine on him for a bloke that size, but your running seems to have gone to a new level, especially over the last probably two and a half years.
Matt:
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, thanks, bro. No, it's, um, I'm really enjoying the journey actually, like, um, just the consistency, you know, like the whole compound interest sort of mantra of just turn it up every week and, um, I've been, I've been running on Tuesday nights at this Run Club just down here in Manly, which has been really, really great addition because we just push each other pretty hard and some really good riders down there. And it's one of those things it's like, you may not see progression in six weeks or three months, maybe even six months, but it's like almost like a year or two year thing. Yeah, I think I ran the Gold Coast. half off and I think, I think my, yeah, I beat my last time, like this time last year, like six minutes,
Tyson:
Yeah.
Matt:
like a, you know, like a can of beer or whatever. Um, and man, like I'm a community amateur runner, but it's just, uh, it's just cool seeing the journey and, you know, and just, like I said, compounding those sessions and those kilometers and just improving steadily. Um, yeah, it really is a metaphor for. for life and the training and the discipline. And yeah, I suppose like it just translates to so many other things, whether it's business or relationships or just life in general, you know, just showing up and putting the jogs on and getting out there. And as you can imagine, that's why it's such a popular sport and millions of people around the world continue and love their running every day, you know.
Tyson:
It's interesting just to see how it correlates to other areas of your life as well. I reckon one of the best things that I ever did was get involved in a sport that I was passionate about from a young age, because especially in a sport like running, yeah, sure, you can get by on natural talent for a little while, but unless you're putting in the work and figuring out, okay, like what's the best training to do for the distance I'm trying to run, how do I recover well, how do I get out there and actually feel good while I'm doing it? How do I be consistent? How do I push through physical pain and, um, you know, mental discomfort when I'm out there in the, um, you know, in the deep part or the hard part, the latter stages of a race. There's so many facets of running, like you just said, that correlate beautifully. And I'm interested, like looking at the world of comedy, which I'm heavily involved in now, probably to the same degree as what I was with my running years ago. It's interesting just to see the different approaches that people bring to comedy. Like there's, there's like two ends of the spectrum, like everything, where you'll have people like myself who I really thrive on discipline. So my rule is I've got a minimum of two nights a week. I have to be out there. And on those two nights, if I can do sort of two gigs, it means I'm getting four gigs done. And then you come home and I'll always record the sets. So I'll try and pay attention to like, okay, how's my body language? How's my tone? What was the atmosphere in the audience? Where did it hit? What joke was rubbish? Where did I bomb? And then just like a combination of that. And then also just spending some time writing, spending some time just sitting there being aware of, like if I say something funny or hear something funny, take note of it. Uh, actually you're, I often bring you up in regards to your photography. Cause I remember just spending some time with you over in Italy, seeing you see something you like, and you were just aware, like with that camera, you sort of had to be a little bit more aware cause you might miss a, an opportunity for a good shot and I know you were only ever doing it as a hobby more than like a profession, but you still had to have that, have that certain mindset. And I think the same thing applies with comedies. You can come into the comedy world and yet your senses are just naturally a little bit turned up. Like something might be funny, something might be serious, something might be scary, but just trying to find the angle of funny in that. And then on the other side of the spectrum, bro, like you literally have people like that who are, you know, coming from it from that more type A personality for lack of a better term. And then you've got literally like drug addicts and alcoholics and people who have never had structure and people who are just in the middle of chaos. And there's no one perfect size. Like you'll have people on this side who are way less funny. than people on this side and vice versa. And so like just trying to navigate, okay, how do I improve this? What's the right way to approach it? And also like there's a little bit of magic that takes place in it as well. Like I, dude, you know, I love Bob Dylan. Then I was watching a 2004 interview with him on 60 minutes today
Matt:
Thank you.
Tyson:
and someone said to him, I've heard you say that you can't write those songs anymore. like, is that true? And he's like, yeah, I can't anymore. And the guy's like, Oh, what do you mean? Like, doesn't that make you upset? He's like, Oh, have you heard the lyrics that I was writing back in the 60s? That was it was like magic. It was I don't think that was me writing those songs. Like, I don't think people can write that kind of music. And there's all and I say that just to emphasize this idea that there's also some like, creative magic that yet, some people are able to tap into it a far more effective way that you'll watch someone on stage and they're saying the right things. And then for whatever reason, you're like, ah, it's not really, it's not converting to funny. And then every now and then you'll see someone get up there and they're a little bit all over the shop, but, but it feels more real and more honest. And, um, I dunno. So I always find it interesting trying to compare a field like comedy or see how my approach to running translates into another one of these passions. It's just a, I think it's part of the, part of the fun. It's part of what keeps you coming back for it. Cause there's You're just constantly trying to unravel like, all right, what, what was it that went well? What was it that went badly, you know?
Matt:
Yeah bro, lots to digest there. I, um, when you were talking about finding that spark or inspiration or that magic, um, what came up was this idea of, of the muse. Um, I believe it's maybe that ancient Greek kind of philosophy of inspiration. And that's the origin of the word music and museum. yet to tap into that muse, that mythical, beautiful creature that inspires us. You know, it's often sort of a beautiful individual who might be that inspiration, uh, that muse. Um, but it's, it's just a metaphor really for what inspires us. And I suppose having a relationship with that muse is something that's really deep and, and sometimes lacking in my life. Um. creativity, connection with my body. I really enjoy dance and dancing. And it doesn't matter how good you are, but I just enjoy. tapping into that element of the muse for me personally. You mentioned photography earlier. There's an element of like that flow state when you're running, you know, and tapping, running with that muse, if that, you know, I think that makes sense. Um, so yeah, I suppose there's food for thought there and just like, how can we build a relationship with the muse? You know, she's there in everyone's life, but she's sometimes, or we disconnect from her, you know, and, um, Maybe she, maybe we kick her out of the house every now and then, often for maybe years on end when we get caught up in too much structure and too much order and too much security and safety. Yeah, this has been, these have been big themes that have come up in my life this year actually. probably the last few years, but I'm just like expressing it now. And I use the word she deliberately because what I've come to inner stand as well is that it's the feminine elements of the universe. It's the yin to my masculine yang. And like you, I love structure and order and my life is very structured and ordered almost to the extreme or overly. And, um, you know, I get up 5 30 and I go to the gym like pretty much every day. Um, and like, yeah, my roommate, Jono, like things I'm like mentally insane to have this level of discipline kind of thing, you know, and, um, like I order my meals from this really awesome, healthy place here on the beaches and like, they come every Sunday and like, it's just struck you off. and order and routine. But it comes at the price I'm realizing and the price is that relationship with my muse or my feminine energy in the world and universe. Um, and I think this is probably a theme I'm speaking for myself, but probably common with a lot of men. Um, and it's very easy to get home and be tired and turn on the TV and fall back to those numbing practices, distractions. But then the muse isn't invited back into our life. And so, yeah, there's so many of those, it's not about being a master artist or creating master pieces or anything like that, but it's just what or how can you tap into that creative flow. Even it was interesting listening to you talk about your comedy and getting up there and still recording it and coming home and having that structure and going twice a week. But then I suppose when you're at the cafe and you just have like, you overhear something or you have that spark of inspiration or it's like, Oh, that's such a great joke. As we all sometimes hear or have or thought that is that being struck by the muse or what also the ancient Greeks would refer to as, um, I think it's Mercury perhaps and, um, Mercury was the God of like, uh, I think that sort of fortune in the wings and. being struck by that type of energy.
Tyson:
Yeah, man, it's so interesting. Like the whole idea of the creative process is one that's so fascinating. There's so many good books, but I'm so far down the rabbit hole of a bloke that you're going to be familiar with, I think, in Rick Rubin. I listened to a number of his podcasts over the last couple of months and I got his book called The Creative Act. where he pretty much just delves into, okay, what is the creative process? How do we keep being creative? And I'm doing such a disservice to it because it's one of those books that, it's written almost like a devotional in the sense that he'll have a topic on one page, I'm listening to the audio book, but from what I hear, this is how it's sort of set out, and he'll have a thought tapping into creativity, and then he'll spend a page just explaining, okay, what does this look like? And man, if there's one, It's such a hard thing to explain, like how to tap into creativity because all of the elements that we've just touched on seem to be at play. And some people seem to tap into it really well and have the talent to not only tap into it, but bring something back out, like tap into the muse to use your words. I don't know if you've spent that much time listening to Rick Rubin, but between Rick Rubin, Bob Dylan, I feel like I'm really attracted to these people because... They've got a certain way with words, Rick Rubin especially, just the way he speaks, he's so clear. I don't know, certain people just seem to have a language to speak about the music and creativity that a lot of others don't. And I mean, you only have to see the names of the people that Rubin's worked with, like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kanye West, I mean, literally anyone who's, anyone in a big sense or in a recognizable sense in the music scene as... sort of rub shoulders with Rick Rubin. And it's very strange because you'll look at one particular artist, whether it's like a musician, a painter, a comedian, whatever. And you've heard the saying one hit wonder. Some people can do something once and can't replicate it. Whereas Rick Rubin seems to be able to partner up with certain people in different genres of music and go, oh, what about this? And to hear him talk about it, it's... kind of mind blowing because it seems a little bit like magic that a bloke can go to not just one artist but multiple, or literally probably hundreds or close to, and just draw out whatever it is that they need to tap into with their particular kind of music. He wouldn't say those words from what I understand. He would more see himself as one of the tools in the process of helping unpack that creative process. I mean, it just adds to, it adds to like the perception of genius, the fact that he recognizes that. I mean, if I was in his shoes, I'd be walking around like I'm the king. Cause I'm Rick Rubin who's helped me out all these people, but I don't know. He seems to have a respect for what that creative process is. And I mean, it's no surprise that people have been speaking about it for centuries because it's really hard to get the language to explain it clearly.
Matt:
Yeah, totally. Yeah, I think I need to equate myself a bit more with Rick Rubin and his philosophies. I've watched a couple of documentaries and a couple of interviews with him. I know he's like quiet or deeply spiritual and for me, creativity. This whole thing, this whole conversation is just connection to spirituality. Um, and allowing that flow of the universe of, of God, which I just made life or whatever you want to call it. Flowing through. And there's no, I'm like, I don't know if there's one, there's no method or way or dogma, it's just for like for Rick Rubin, from what I've seen and watched, it's just sitting and getting quiet and still. And that's, I guess that math, masculine path of meditation and letting it flow, letting that energy flow. And I believe he lives in Hawaii and next to the ocean and has these, you know, a lot of, uh, he's in the right environment. you know, the environment's really important as well. I heard, just as a side note the other day, an awesome piece of wisdom, but like, whilst we are creators of our own lives, we are very much co-creators as well. It's all good me having that will and determination, but I'm also the product of my environment and co-create with my friends and family and just strangers on the street, really. like we're all co-creating together. Yeah, and then you mentioned the word genius as well, which stems, I believe it's Greek as well or Latin. Oh, yeah. Apologies if that's incorrect, but the word or the story or the word genie, which I guess is popularized with the genie in the bottle. But the Greek mythology behind that is that we all have our own inner genie or genie-ess. And again, it's just building that relationship without enough genius. And it's not so much that one in a million people out there are geniuses. The Einsteins and the Elon Musk's of the world. We're, we all have our own genius. Yeah, we all have our own genius is, is I strongly believe that. Um, so yeah, it's all like, all of this is just, it's really, it's spiritual man, it's spiritual practice. You know, you getting up there and working on your comedy and being on that journey. Um, yeah,
Tyson:
Hey
Matt:
I believe it's a spiritual one as, as tends to be most things in life.
Tyson:
dude, it's such a good point. I was actually thinking as you're explaining that, like, obviously spending so much time in the church, which I have in the past and have started to again recently, one of the things that I was really unattracted by or really put off by was people who were all religion and seem to lack any real, like unity with whatever spirit they claim to represent. They had all the practice. and they were saying all the right things, they were doing the right things, and it appeared as though they were like religious in that dogmatic sense of the word. But then like the fruit of their behavior or flack of a better term, there seemed to be a disconnect between what they were saying and doing and what they were claiming to represent. And then the flip side of that, which probably, I don't know if I'd say it puts me off just as much, but maybe when you get to it, is there's like that real woo crazy. in your face spirituality with people who have none of the structure. And it's pretty much just like just getting blown by the wind. And I think, I don't know if I would choose either one of those, but like, then you'll meet a certain person. I've got a friend here, Nick. Um, I think I've told you about him before, man. Like he lost his daughter in like a tragic accident. He's only, he's our age. And like so many people who use tragedy to mold them and shape them. He's, he's not bitter. He's not cynical. Um, He's like a passionate Christian guy. And what I mean by that is, I mean, he's at church and he's doing the so-called religious stuff. But then, you know, those people that you just rub shoulders with and you're like, ah, like whatever you're saying, you believe, you know, I can tell just by looking at you that there's something deeper going on here. So it's funny how well that correlates to like the creative process in life is sort of to go back to what I was trying to say before, you've got the structure. and you've got that free spirit. And it seems to be like that perfect blend of two, which in the world of Christianity, I think is the most attractive form of Christianity. And in the world of creativity, it seems to be the most sort of long lasting form of creativity.
Matt:
Yeah, I heard a really beautiful metaphor of this the other week and it's the idea of a river and That masculine element of the river is the banks, and the rocks, and the soil, and naturally a river needs structure, and it's support, and direction. Because without it, as you can imagine, the river is just going to flood or it's just going to be chaos, or it's just going to go everywhere. And it's going to cause death and destruction, possibly. On the other hand, If there's too much structure, or perhaps like if humans intervene, for example, and becomes like a dam or a canal, then the river stops flowing altogether. Or it loses that creative element, where it just flows in one direction. So it's that beautiful balance essentially of the banks of the river and also that creative flow of the water, the feminine and the masculine. This is just yin and yang, which keep coming to kind of thing like that, a Daoist principle. It's the, perhaps like the Jesus and the Mary type archetypes as well, divine, feminine and masculine. And... Yeah, this is, I'm just diving deeper and deeper into this topic. Um, and in terms of like, on a macro scale, when it comes to like helping out the world or healing the world and having those bigger conversations philosophically. It's about balancing these energies as well. You know, I like the, um, I like the idea or the teaching of, are you familiar with like what's called like the Kali Yuga?
Tyson:
No, no.
Matt:
It's just this idea in the Hindu philosophy that we're living in like this dark time, um, and they have like these cycles of time, every, like these eons of time, sort of every 20,000 years or whatever it is, it's quite astrological. But. according to this philosophy, I suppose it overlaps a little bit with kind of like this Mayan philosophy of 2012 and things like that, where we live in certain ages. similar to like the Bronze Age and the Golden Age and the Stone Age and things like this. But anyway, a lot of people suggest that we're in this like going through this time of darkness and unconsciousness and distraction and war and staring at our screens and. yada yada, this goes on. And it's like, how can we get back into, how can we awaken collectively as a consciousness and then move into. a more of a golden age or a renaissance perhaps or revival to use a Christian word, resurrection. And it's about balancing these energies and you know on a slight tangent and something that I've been thinking about recently, but like for example, this whole third wave feminist movement. It's not about actually the divine feminine. It's simply more women stepping into their masculine and being like men. So you've just got more masculine energy in the world. That's not about actually balancing the energies at all. I hope that makes sense. That's a slight tangent, but something I've been thinking about recently. Um, so yeah, what are, what are your thoughts on some of that, bro?
Tyson:
Oh, dude, I was about to say to you, as you're explaining this idea of masculine and feminine, I've heard those terms thrown around before, but I didn't really understand what they represented. That yin and yang is a good comparison for me because I understand what you're saying. But to hear about this third wave feminism being a way of essentially just these women tapping into the masculine elements of their life, it seems even on a practical level, it's very obvious. everything that like a third way feminist seems to desire is just equality in the sense that they want the same job titles or they want the same income or they want the same physical power or they want like insert whatever it is that like your stereotype of a man has you know has had for however long they say they've had it they say no that's what that's what we want and I've heard some people say it almost seems like a limitation on what they're actually capable of because the idea of them attempting to tap into this idea of masculinity. It's like, I don't know if I'm explaining this well, or if it even really correlates to what you're saying, but the idea of trying to be the best version of yourself is a better idea than being like a second rate version of someone else. And it seems as though when you speak about a third wave feminist, they're trying their best to be a second rate version of something that already exists, which doesn't really seem to do any favors for anyone.
Matt:
Yeah, no, totally makes sense, man. And before I go on, like I got that teaching from a very conscious, spiritual female teacher actually. And she was expressing her desire for, you can't tear down a structure. You can't tear down an oppressor or patriarchy and just replace it with the same system, if that makes sense. Like it's still the exact same system. It's just changing the, you know, the, the 1% of the top of the pyramid. It's about creating circles, which I really liked this mantra of circles, not pyramids. And that is the shape again of the circle is feminine, a vagina, the womb, the curves of a woman's body is actually Kirby, the moon, water, waves. masculine structure or masculine shape is more direct. phallic, straight lines, even our bodies, you know, shoulders and hips and so on and so forth. So there's all these clues in nature as well, which I find really amazing. So yeah, look, I... for perhaps the beautiful women listening to this. It's not, and the men, like it's not about... Like it actually doesn't matter if the prime minister is male or female, if the system is still exactly the same. It's about actually turning the system into a circle, changing its entire shape. So yeah, anyway, that's a bit of a tangent. I know a lot of young women have been misled down that path of chasing the career and the dollars and like these masculine pursuits where and it's not controversial to say but like women are these miraculous magical beings that have so many other more gifts that are sort of being denied under the guise of like masculine feminism anyway I don't know if we should go on further on that topic, but yeah.
Tyson:
It's definitely an interesting topic. I've noticed this since having kids and Jesse and I are choosing a more traditional role in the sense of what we're doing with the kids. Jesse's your classic stay at home mum, for lack of a better term. She's looking after the kids. I'm working from home. I mean, Jesse's a little bit of modern day woman in there because she's running a small business on top of that. I mean, people are shocked and it's not as uncommon in our friendship group down here. We've got a couple of young families and taking a fairly similar role, but it's shocking to some people that a woman or Jessie would choose to sacrifice her career as a teacher, which she loves and she's really good at in order to raise a family. Because obviously that means less income, it means less opportunity to buy whatever house it is you want to buy. You know, insert all the things that so many of us love. But it is, it's strange that it was what 50, 60 years ago that, you know, in Western society as well, that was pretty much the way that it went. I'm not saying that like Jessie's career doesn't matter. I'm not saying that what she wants to go back and do isn't important, but to sort of emphasise your point even more, the idea that like, there's just so much moulding that takes place in these two young lives that we've got here, that we've been put in charge of, just in her opinion is so much more important than any career that she could have. And I've got close friends as well who completely disagree with this and they're pursuing, you know, they're both working full-time jobs and making that work as well. And both, I would say both are incredible parents. But it just is interesting. I think I'm talking more about the perception of it now. It seems very strange that a woman would sacrifice career in the name of family. And it's strange to me. That is strange. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, like clarify that before you start making any decisions. Yeah, dude, a name that we used to talk about quite often came to mind just then, Stephen Covey, seven habits are highly effective people. One of the most helpful ways that I think, and I could probably do this again. One of the most helpful ways that I realised like what it is that I actually value was doing an exercise that he taught, which is just imagine the person you love most or a loved one reading at your eulogy at your funeral. Like, what does it say? And you're happy with what it says. And if you're not happy with what it says, then. devote your life to making that eulogy, the best possible eulogy of the person you wanna be. And I mean, it's good because so often it's very easy just to get caught up in the speed that life operates at and not have an opportunity to actually sit back and reflect on, oh, like who do I wanna be? What do I wanna create? Another one, man, like 2017, I remember sitting in a class in London, CRT class, and the kids were doing their work, and I'd just done Jordan Peterson's I can't remember what it was called. It was essentially like a write your own future kind of thing. And it was to write it 10 years in advance. And I read it last night. Like what's that? That's like six years, six and a half. Oh, it was pretty much six years on the dot. And man, already, like it is unbelievable to see how things that are deep down in your subconscious that come out when you actually take the time to imagine the future you. correlates with my life at the moment. I read that last night and I was like, okay, I got four years to achieve a few more things on here. But it is like down to the fact that now I would have two kids. I was like, man, that's weird that in 2017, I just assumed that this part of my life, I'd probably have two kids. I mean, I was slightly off. I said in the letter, it'd be a boy and a girl. But apart from that, I nailed it. In terms of what I was doing for work, it's right on the money. And that's really given me a lot of... confidence because I'm like, I think there's something going on deep down within us that when we do actually take the time to reflect and plan, we're more in tune with what it is that we would like to achieve. You know, whether that's in work or family or fitness and health or insert, whatever it is, then we then we might, you know, consciously be aware of. But I mean, that's a big point to one thing you said the other thing that you said, feel free to stop me if you got anything to add. But Another thing that you mentioned that I found really interesting is, I can't remember the name you gave it, but essentially the age that we're in, this period of time that we're in. The, yeah, I think this Kali Yuga is a bit more of a, like a broader view of the time span that we're in. But I finished reading a really interesting book about six months ago called The Fourth Turning, which I think I might've told you about by William Str- Say that again. And that book gave me so much hope. And you might be better at explaining it than I am, but essentially for people wondering, it speaks about how like history, as far as we can tell operates in, I think they call it a saculum, like an 80 year period of time, broken down into 20 year segments. And those 20 year segments essentially start off as a time of optimism, work through different phases. And that final period is a time of chaos and sort of destruction, I guess, or chaos and confusion. And right now, according to William Strauss, book was written in 1997, we're in a period of this chaos and confusion where everything's questioned from governments to gender to financial systems to, you know, there's so much that we could say on this. But what I found so hopeful about it is when he wrote this book in 1997, so much of what he predicted over the next 20 years have come to pass. And he's saying that we're only a few years shy of. a new beginning, like that first, like a beginning of a new sacrament, which is a time of great optimism and hope and solidarity in large degrees. And I'm like, Oh, because I look at society for ages now, I'm like, what is this woke stuff? Like, what is this virtue signaling? What is all this? What's going on? What's all this gender confusion? Why? What is happening? And it just seems, it seemed crazy. And I just thought like, before I read this book that we're just on this gradual decline. into like hell, but this book gave me a great deal of hope in, oh no, there's actually, there's hopefully a pivot point assuming that we make it out of this. There's a pivot point where we start to make the upward trajectory or the upward walk again. I think he said it's like 2028 or 2030 predicts that time will take place. But I felt like my optimism for the future of humanity has been improved so much just by that book. Yeah. Dude, I was laughing the other day. I saw one of my friends share a meme. It said, this too shall pass. And then underneath it said, and then some other bullshit will take place. And you'll go through it all again. And I was like, isn't it true? I get such a depressing thought. But it's, I mean, it's not really depressing when you understand it. Because I guess it just depends what phase you're in. That's very hopeful if you're in a winter phase to go, okay, well, this two shall pass. But when you're in the summer phase, and you're pretty happy being there, the idea of this two shall pass is actually, it can be a little bit sadder, but I mean, I haven't thought about it long enough or deep enough to really have any great insight to it. But I mean, it seems like it can be, depending on how you view that, really depressing or really exciting, which is probably just jumping right back on board with What the wheel is doing anyway, just two more emotions to throw in and navigate. Dude, it's so interesting. This is one thing I like talking to you about because you seem to have quite a broad view Um, not a broad view, but yet you're sort of familiar with the archa, the archetypes of certain religions and certain spiritualities and certain stories. Um, like from, from your perspective, they all seem in a big regard to say the same thing, don't they? Yeah. So what do you think it is, yeah, yeah. What do you think it is with certain people who feel a little more inclined? Like obviously here in Australia, especially back in sort of the 50s or the earlier parts of us. becoming Australia as we know it, Christianity obviously descended from the British, it was a very traditional religion, like it was just the, there was the Western religion really, like Catholicism and then, you know, essentially my grandparents would have called themselves Christian, my mum would call herself a Christian, but they're not in the sense of what it is that a Christian is, they're just that by name. I say all that just to say, what do you think it is with people who are a little more... Like for example, I'll go to my church and there'd be a lot of people that would hear you speak that would think what you're saying makes no sense. But when you actually boil it down, and I can see this because I've looked at enough or heard about it enough or spoken to you enough to go, no, I can see how all of these stories correlate beautifully to one another. But people get very defensive and very like stiff around asking questions about the similarities of different religions. I mean, there's a few questions in that, but what do you think it is? Is it like a cultural thing from where you stand that causes someone to put their foot down and go, no, I'm a Christian or no, I'm a Hindu or I'm a Buddhist or I'm a Muslim. Obviously it's cultural to an extent, but there's exceptions to that rule as well. Yeah, it's true. That's a good point. I was having this conversation with a bloke on my running podcast yesterday. He was explaining to me that when he was a kid, pretty much the way he trained was just the way he trained because he didn't really spend that much time on the internet. He goes, now I can log on and I can see what all Olympic champions from the last 15 Olympic games have done for training. and choose what I think is most appropriate for me based on the athlete that they were. And I was like, what a great point. I think, yeah, that's really true. As the internet's just become pretty much in every one of our lounge rooms or modems in every one of our lounge rooms, we've got access to the internet. We're naturally exposed to Eastern religions far more, which is maybe part of the reason that it's taken off in such a big way in America, Australia, the UK. I've found that really interesting. You look at something like Christianity. And I think this is changing to a degree, but I think for a long time, people looked at that, like a long time in the context of my life, maybe the last 10 years, people looked at that as like, oh, yeah, you're very fundamental, very traditional. Whereas someone who was jumping on board with like more of an Eastern religion, Buddhism, Hinduism, whatever, looked at with more respect. So it's been interesting just to watch that take place. And I wonder how much that has to do with what you just explained, like... our eyes are being open to new ideas based on the fact that like the new ideas are before us thanks to the internet Yeah, it's a good point. Yeah, it's interesting, man. It's interesting hearing. The idea of Sabbath is one that we've been really interested in lately. Probably the last six months we've tried to be a little more disciplined with that in the sense that we'll switch our phone off. Or at the very least, there's no social media. And we'll just try and be a bit more of a family unit. Like the, cause you know, you sort of explained it at the start of this podcast that you get up, you go through the routines, um, you've got your structures in place, you go to work, you come home, you know, you do whatever it is that you do. And as, as much as we love it, as much as we need that structure, it's nice on that seventh day, just to go out, you know, what actually today's, today's the day where none of those things have to happen. And I always feel by the time Monday comes around, cause sometimes my Sabbath will extend to the Sunday as well. where I'll keep the phone off or I'll just operate at a bit of a slower pace, won't check emails. I mean, I get to the Monday and I definitely feel recharged. So it is interesting, like just to emphasize that one point, it's just interesting you mentioned Sabbath, because that's one that I've been really fascinated by lately that, I mean, I still got a whole heap to learn about it, but from a personal perspective, just that rejuvenation and sort of motivation. you know, to get back into it on a Sunday or a Monday after that day of just switching off is so underrated. Yeah, bro, we did it We're back in business That's good, man As I said, it's so nice to get an excuse to pick your brain and chat about some of the things that you've been thinking About I've been thinking about Thanks for coming on, man Dude, just another great hour with a great man, Matty Power. Awesome, brother. Oi, thanks again, man. I'll leave you to it. Alright, right back at you brother.