The You Project

Ozan Varol is a Rocket Scientist, turned Lawyer, turned award-winning Professor and best-selling Author, who grew up in Istanbul in a family which didn’t speak English. At 17, he moved to the United States by himself to attend Cornell University, where he majored in astrophysics and while there, he served on the operations team for the 2003 Mars Exploration Rovers Project. After getting tenure as a Professor (an uncommon achievement), Ozan left academia (an uncommon choice for a person with tenure) to become a full-time author and speaker. And now, in his crowning achievement (clearly), the genius chats with the ex-fat kid on The You Project. His latest book is called ‘Awaken Your Genius: Escape Conformity, Ignite Creativity, and Become Extraordinary.’ Enjoy. ozanvarol.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If my lifespan was a 12-inch ruler, I’d  currently be sitting around the 9-inch mark (statistically). The home straight. And if I ‘am’ statistically average, then as an Aussie bloke, I have about 22 years left on the metaphoric perch. Fortunately for me, I intend to be atypical. An outlier. A statistical anomaly. Having said that, there are some things out of my control (20-30%) but in terms of the stuff I can control, I’m all over that shit like a f*ckin’ self-help ninja. You can replace lots of things on Planet You but you can’t get a new body, so I encourage you to plan (and work) accordingly. I’m more interested in living well than long, but it’s my intention to do both. I recorded this episode in the hope that you might be more proactive about optimising your physical, mental and emotional health (if you’re not already) and creating an operating system that will not only increase your life span but also, your health span. Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I’m a handful. Even I struggle with me and I AM me. Much of my life has been focused on exploring the ideas, skills, techniques and habits that will make me a better.. me. This episode is me thinking out loud about my personal journey of self-discovery, self-awareness and self-improvement. There might be a nugget or two in it for you. Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode is part-teaching, part-coaching and part kick-in-the-arse (with love). Some people’s lives are in semi-regular free-fall because, no matter how much mess, mayhem or chaos happens in their world, it’s never their fault and the problem is always someone or something else. This chat is not about blame, self-loathing or criticism, it’s about self-awareness, personal power, accountability and living your best life. Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

According to Dr Ali Walker, I’m a Shape-Shifting Ambivert. I just thought I was a social misfit with trust issues but apparently, I can be classified. Moving forward, I might put SSA after my name. This was a fun episode where we spoke about why having your bio read (to an audience) is the kryptonite of human connection (snore-fest), how to discover your connection type, why belonging (to something, someone) is so important, how to recognise, understand and match ‘frequencies and intensities’ in others, understanding our public persona and our shadow self, how I helped Ali cure her propensity to be a people-pleaser and we also chatted about her ongoing battle with her husband re temperature regulation in the home, car and even, bed. Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I truly loved this chat and I love Professor Marion Nestle (pronounced Nessel). Born in 1936 (three years before the start of WW2), she is a national treasure (in the US), an accomplished author, researcher and academic in the nutrition space, a pioneer in food politics (it’s a thing), a detector of BS regarding the marketing and selling of food products and an exposer of fraudulent, industry-funded pseudo-science. She’s also funny, courageous (she’s had lots of push-back from huge companies), brilliant and by the way, still lectures students. Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We gave ChatGPT a chance at interviewing the great man (David) and for now, my job is safe. The latest AI phenomenon asked David questions about books he hasn’t written and things he hasn’t done. Nonetheless, it was a fun chat and I even got to ask a few questions of my own. Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a very different podcast. Our guest has never been interviewed. She is not a world-class expert, author, researcher or guru (although she might be one day) but for some of you, she might provide more value and insight than the superstars. She might be more relatable. More inspirational. More like a listener, than a guest. Well, that’s because she is a listener (and now, a guest). Caroline sent me a message about her re-invention and revolution in her 50th year and I thought a TYP chat with her about her journey might make good listening. She was definitely less enthusiastic (and somewhat terrified) about my idea but eventually, we sorted it. I will say that Caroline is very complementary about me and TYP in general (which makes me somewhat uncomfortable, although I appreciate the gesture) but I take zero credit for any of her achievements (of course) and I’m quick to point out that she did 100% of the work and I did exactly… zero. Maybe I said a few things which resonated but then, plenty of people heard those same words and did f**k-all (as my mum says). This is a great chat with someone who literally transformed their thinking, behaviour, habits, results and career in a relatively short period of time. Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a very different podcast. Our guest has never been interviewed. She is not a world-class expert, author, researcher or guru (although she might be one day) but for some of you, she might provide more value and insight than the superstars. She might be more relatable. More inspirational. More like a listener, than a guest. Well, that’s because she is a listener (and now, a guest). Caroline sent me a message about her re-invention and revolution in her 50th year and I thought a TYP chat with her about her journey might make good listening. She was definitely less enthusiastic (and somewhat terrified) about my idea but eventually, we sorted it. I will say that Caroline is very complementary about me and TYP in general (which makes me somewhat uncomfortable, although I appreciate the gesture) but I take zero credit for any of her achievements (of course) and I’m quick to point out that she did 100% of the work and I did exactly… zero. Maybe I said a few things which resonated but then, plenty of people heard those same words and did f**k-all (as my mum says). This is a great chat with someone who literally transformed their thinking, behaviour, habits, results and career in a relatively short period of time. Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Marc Cohen is a medical doctor, university professor, author, poet, entrepreneur, wellness trailblazer and perpetual student of life, who is trying to coax the world towards global wellness. He has spent more than 30 years practicing and researching holistic health and he has published more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers and many books and technical texts on wellness and natural medicine. He’s also about the most laid-back Professor-y type I’ve ever chatted with on TYP. He also lives about as far outside the traditional medical box as any Doc I’ve ever met. He’s a brilliant science communicator, he’s a little weird (in a good way), a lot creative and not surprisingly, we had a good connection. Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.