Olympic 2020 Tokyo 1500 metres silver medalist Laura Muir is one of the finest middle-distance runners Britain has ever seen. But there’s more – she is a trained vet too. Muir graduated from the University of Glasgow’s prestigious vet school in 2018 all while competing at the top level – winning her first senior outdoor gold medal at the European Championships that summer. How did she juggle both things? And what are the key lessons to take from her experiences about not overthinking things, and...
Apr 28, 2023•8 min•Ep. 177
As research into the potential healing powers of psychedelics gains pace, I am thrilled to be joined by Michael Pollan, the author and journalist described as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. In his book How to change your mind, Michael researches how psychedelics including psylocibin mushrooms are being used to help people suffering from various mental health conditions – including depression, anxiety, PTSD and addiction. Psychedelic research is clearly a gr...
Apr 24, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 176
A good night’s sleep can make you feel strong enough to take on the world. A bad nights sleep – well, let’s not go there. This clip is all about how to avoid falling down the insomnia gap. You see, one bad night’s sleep can quickly snowball – so it’s good to know how to stop that from happening and to recognise the signs. This is from my conversation with Dr Guy Meadows – the founder and clinical director of The Sleep School My full length conversation with Dr Guy Meadows is HERE: https://pod.fo...
Apr 21, 2023•9 min•Ep. 175
Lawrence Dallaglio is an English sporting icon who understands the power of being driven by a higher purpose. He won 85 international rugby caps and was a crucial player in England's World Cup triumph of 2003. But Dallaglio is not cut from typical rugby playing cloth. It was the tragedy of losing his older sister in the Marchioness boating disaster of 1989 that ended up propelling him to pursue a rugby career. I am grateful to Lawrence for being open and vulnerable about his life and struggles, ...
Apr 17, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 174
Who doesn’t want to know how to stop unpleasant and even intrusive thoughts from bothering them? While lots of people talk about positive thinking, and training yourself to turn a negative into something upbeat – the truth is – that takes a lot of effort and doesn’t always work. Dr Russ Harris is one of the world’s leading psychologists. He shares a portable mindfulness technique that can sap the power out of any bothersome thought, at any moment – whenever thoughts are bothering you. This is se...
Apr 14, 2023•11 min•Ep. 173
There’s a saying that I’m confident you will have heard of – but which we can all too quickly forget when the mind starts taking off. And it is – what you resist, persists. One of my guests who has really internalised the wisdom behind that saying is Jonny Wilkinson. We all know his story – he was the darling of English rugby who kicked the World Cup winning drop goal in 2003, and whose mental health suffered in the ensuing years. So Jonny has been on quite the introspective journey – and he’s n...
Apr 07, 2023•12 min•Ep. 172
Gary Lineker has been in the news recently – more than usual – after a social media fracas that led him to miss a week of presenting match of the Day and which briefly dominated the news headlines. As we now know that situation was soon sorted – and Gary was quickly back alongside his chums on the MOTD sofa, looking as unruffled as ever. Being centre of the media glare as he was didn’t seem to knock Gary off his stride too much – and when you hear about his career playing football, you can under...
Mar 31, 2023•11 min•Ep. 171
We all come into this world with unconditional worth – and then we lose sight of that and spend so much time running around trying to prove that we are enough. It’s part of the human condition – and has been something of a key theme running through this podcast. One of my guests I talked about this with was the 1996 formula one world champion Damon Hill, whose father Graham had also been a world champion – making them the first ever father-son duo to achieve the feat. In this episode: Why comple...
Mar 24, 2023•12 min•Ep. 170
How can you have as many good days as possible? It’s so easy to continually be looking to the future – and pay too high a price in the present as a result. Frances Houghton is a five time Olympian, who won three silver medals, 4 world championship golds and held two world records in rowing. Early on – she set two goals, to compete in as many Olympic games as possible, and to win Olympic Gold. Eventually, that drive and need to win gold led to burnout, and so she realised she needed to redefine s...
Mar 17, 2023•11 min•Ep. 169
This episode is about how much our parental influences shape our outlook on life. While we all come into this world with some innate traits, we are also largely a blank slate to start with, but are hugely conditioned by our upbringing. But I think the really interesting thing is that we invariably pick up a framework of what is right, and how to behave in those early years – and that can then shape our beliefs and behaviour for the rest of our life – unless we start to question the 'guiding narr...
Mar 10, 2023•11 min•Ep. 168
What are you like at sitting with emotions? It can be so easy to distract ourselves, or numb ourselves – by reaching for a drink or a device, or even by going up into our heads and getting lost in rumination. One of my guests who told me he had to embrace sitting with emotions was the former UK Special Forces soldier and Royal Marine Commando turned explorer, adventurer, investigative journalist and TV presenter Jason Fox. Foxy has made a remarkable recovery after being discharged from the army ...
Mar 03, 2023•10 min•Ep. 167
“I like things to happen… and if they don’t… I like to make them happen.” - Winston Churchill This episode is all about creating opportunities… rather than waiting for things to fall in your lap. I spoke to the award winning author and journalist Maurice Hamilton, who explained how he got to do the job he loves – in part by taking motivation from the most successful formula one driver of the early 20th century, who overcame immense odds and tragedy to get into motorsport, as Maurice explains. Fu...
Feb 24, 2023•13 min•Ep. 166
Burnout and stress is on the rise. Finding work-life balance is increasingly elusive. What's the answer? The issue isn't necessarily too few hours in the day, it's how we use the hours we have - which comes down to our choices and priorities. Ed Jackson, the former pro rugby player turned walking quadriplegic who is now a charity fundraiser and TV presenter, came up with a superb formula for how to work out how to spend your time that helped save him from burnout. That formula was the adopted by...
Feb 17, 2023•13 min•Ep. 165
It can be easy to judge other people for negative actions and decisions, but the truth is we can’t know the circumstances that led to them. We are not nearly as in control of our lives as we like to think. People don’t necessarily like to hear that, but we don’t choose the family we are born into, our genes, our personality traits, the influences we are surrounded by while growing up and so on. Where we are is basically a result of a vast web of interconnected occurrences and events over which w...
Feb 10, 2023•12 min•Ep. 164
When Joe Wicks came up with the idea that changed his life, and started posting online content in 2014, there was no master plan. He just loved doing it and ploughed on - even as people told him he was barking up the wrong tree - before eventually breaking through. It's a story that is often repeated in seeming 'overnight successes' - that ability to keep on going even when the rewards are not immediately obvious. And that’s the lesson Joe wants to share – the importance of relentless consistenc...
Feb 03, 2023•9 min•Ep. 163
"Commit to something - then figure it out." Jimmy Chin Jimmy is a pro climber, skier, photographer and Oscar winning Film director. The theme of this episode is about following your heart and taking risks. Committing to a path and working it out along the way. Jimmy picked up the Academy Award for the incredible Free Solo. You can find the episode with Alex Honnold, star of Free Solo, here: https://play.acast.com/s/dont-tell-me-the-score-with-simon-mundie/fear-alexhonnold ** To message me: Insta...
Jan 27, 2023•12 min•Ep. 162
Many high achievers are driven by a burning desire to compensate for the wounds of childhood trauma. But you can’t fill an inner void with accomplishments and approval. This isn’t to cast judgement on so called "successful" people – it is just to suggest that putting them on a pedestal is overly simplistic, and in many cases they may benefit from empathy rather than envy. This week's bitesize guest is Caitlyn Jenner - who won Olympic Decathlon Gold in 1976 as Bruce Jenner - and whose house in LA...
Jan 20, 2023•8 min•Ep. 161
Don't overlook what you have NOW by focusing on what you are working towards in the future. We live in a world of perpetual doing. Thinking about the future, and the past, making plans, and completing tasks. There's nothing inherently wrong with that – BUT - we do risk missing out on the joy of being, appreciating our experiences in this moment This was clearly illustrated to me by one of my previous guests – who left a profound impression on me. Recently I attended an incredibly moving memorial...
Jan 13, 2023•12 min•Ep. 160
Over the course of the last 4 and a half years speaking to people for this podcast – the topic of visualisation has come up a lot. Former Wales rugby union captain Sam Warburton spoke about using it to help him recover more quickly from an injury. 6 time major golf winner Nick Faldo would visualise the outcomes he wanted twice a day in his pomp, and “saw” himself as the winner of major championships including The Open – before it happened. So, this is a massive topic among elite performers – and...
Jan 06, 2023•12 min•Ep. 159
'Marvel at the incredible benefits walking confers on our bodies and minds' Professor Shane O Mara is a leading neuroscientist and author of the fantastic book – In Praise of Walking Getting out walking is so important, especially at this time of year, and particularly for those of us still working at home after the covid pandemic changed working habits so profoundly. It helps with creativity, mood, wellbeing, digestion - and its effects on heart health is remarkable. Increasing the amount we wa...
Dec 30, 2022•12 min•Ep. 158
"Happiness is about pleasure and purpose. the key is to get that balance right" This bitesize episode is all about setting up our lives for happiness. Paul Dolan - professor of Behavioural Science at LSE and author of the excellent book Happiness by Design - says happiness is about striking a balance between pleasure and purpose. He shares some great examples of how to find both – and talks about how to design your life to help yourself. Our willpower is weak, but our 'design power' is strong. S...
Dec 23, 2022•8 min•Ep. 158
Henry Fraser is a best-selling painter, best-selling author and highly in-demand public speaker. When he was seventeen years old, Henry’s life changed in a moment when he was paralysed from the shoulders down after breaking his neck diving into the sea in Portugal. Before his accident, despite being an academy rugby player for Saracens, Henry described himself as being quite anxiety prone, and someone who hated public speaking. Loads of people hate public speaking, but Henry has some words of wi...
Dec 16, 2022•9 min•Ep. 157
Smartphones have so many people in a grip, and the mental health cost is profound. In this episode, professor Cal Newport - author of Deep Work and Digital Minimalism - sounds a warning. He talks about the work of Jean Twenge, a generational researcher in the US. Her research revealed the profound impact that smartphones had on the wellbeing and mental health of the first generation of students that went to high school with both a smartphone and a social media account - known as IGen. Recent men...
Dec 09, 2022•12 min•Ep. 156
Are you the sort of person who tries to combat anxiety and other challenging inner experience by practicing positive thinking? If so – this bitesize episode is for you. My guest is Dr Russ Harris, the best-selling author of the Happiness Trap. He argues that positive thinking has its place – but it is limited. So called negative thoughts are an inevitable part of the human experience – and its not their content that is the problem – it’s the way we respond and relate to the thoughts. With resist...
Dec 02, 2022•9 min•Ep. 155
"Language is the post powerful drug known to man" Dave Alred is one of the most in demand coaches in elite sport. He’s helped major winner is golf, elite athletes galore.. and was famously Jonny Wilkinson’s guru and mentor during his World Cup winning heyday. In this bitesize episode – Dave talks about the power of language, and how to use it to positively impact people and even get them to change. The advice he gives may sounds simple- but its effects can be profound ** Follow me: on instagram ...
Nov 25, 2022•12 min•Ep. 154
"If you can meet with triumph and disaster, and treat those two imposters just the same..." As Rudyard Kiplng was well aware, success and failure are relative. Neither change who we fundamentally are, and life goes on. One man who understands this is England cricket captain Jos Buttler, who led England to T20 World Cup success recently. When we spoke in our full length episode - number 14 in the back catalogue –– Jos shared some interesting thoughts about how to relate to failure and success, an...
Nov 18, 2022•11 min•Ep. 153
The importance of circadian rhythms for health and longevity - with Professor Satchin Panda, the world's leading expert on circadian rhythms When we eat may be more important than what we eat, and going outside to get natural light in the first half of the day can improve your mood and your sleep. As the days get shorter, this episode has some simple to implement but seriously powerful tips to help improve your health and wellbeing ** Follow me: on instagram https://www.instagram.com/simonmundie...
Nov 11, 2022•13 min•Ep. 152
"If you don't produce, you won't thrive—no matter how skilled or talented you are.” People tend to be distracted and distractable these days, and so if you can develop the powers of focus and 'find the joy in monotony', you can achieve some truly remarkable things. This bitesize episode is about how to do that - with Ebony Rainford Brent, the former England cricketer and world cup winner, who was awarded an MBE for her services to cricket and charity, who embraced the power of Deep Work to great...
Nov 04, 2022•10 min•Ep. 151
So many of us learn to avoid our feelings as we grow up, and turn away from them or try and medicate them away – and that can come at a great cost. One man who knows this is the former Premier League footballer and chairman of the PFA Clarke Carlisle, who was awarded the title of Britain’s brainiest footballer. Clarke has suffered with addiction problems, and has tried to take his own life on more than once occasion too – but is now a big mental health advocate. When we spoke – he shared a power...
Oct 28, 2022•10 min•Ep. 150
"If your emotional abilities aren't in hand, if you don't have self-awareness, if you are not able to manage your distressing emotions, if you can't have empathy and have effective relationships - then no matter how smart you are, you are not going to get very far." That is one of Daniel Goleman’s quotes about emotional intelligence, which was also the title of his best-selling book – which outlined a compelling argument as to why EQ matters more than IQ. In this bitesize episode, Daniel breaks ...
Oct 21, 2022•12 min•Ep. 149
