LifeDoneDifferent.ly
40 episodes - English - Latest episode: 3 months ago -Do you wonder whether there’s another way?
Another, more creative, more meaningful approach to living your life. Well there is and there’s a growing movement of people from all kinds of walks of life who are proving that the way we end up doing what we do in life is often a side effect of external forces. Rather than a deliberate, conscious and authentic set of choices that have come from you and your unique needs. What are you chasing? Success? Safety? Fame? Fortune? Recognition?
Have you stopped to think recently why you’re doing what your doing with your life? Are the stories that you're creating today the ones that you hope your grandchildren will be telling to their children? Are you creating your legacy?
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Episodes
Boff Whalley from Chumbawamba - Let it Be
January 31, 2024 05:00 - 2 hours - 228 MBWelcome to our conversation with the Musician and Artist Boff Whalley. Boff was formerly the lead-guitarist of British anarchist punk band Chumbawumba. Best known for their 1997 single "Tubthumping". Boff grew up in Burnley, in a Morman family. He embraced the art and punk scenes, experimented with different types of music, and with his anarchist mates from the squat formed Chumbawumba which became famous for Tubthumping and pouring water over John Prescott at the 1998 Brits. ...
Derek Sivers - The usefulness of opposites
December 22, 2022 07:00 - 1 hour - 128 MBDerek Sivers is a man with his own mind. To describe him as a musician, circus clown, entrepreneur, programmer, author, speaker, philosopher and Dad might whet your appetite but it would only be a part of the story. Whatever Derek does, he rarely does it on auto-pilot. He has a knack for questioning things. His beliefs are less likely to be a story he's inherited and more likely to be a useful experience. He listens to himself and when what he does fails to resonate, he notices it a...
Steve Chapman (@stevexoh) - exploring the counter-intuitive
August 29, 2022 05:45 - 1 hour - 126 MBThis is a conversation with Steve Chapman. Steve worked for Glaxo Smith Kline for 20 years, he started packing boxes and ended up in a senior management role - and then he became an artist. It sounds like a huge dose of doing something very different but it's not quite as dramatic as that. Steve has found a way to do what he wants to do and earn a living selling his art and helping organisations understand creativity and the human condition. He says "I'm at my best when I’m on the...
A Sneak Peek of a Project Neil has been working on
June 29, 2022 15:15 - 11 minutes - 15.6 MBBetter Business On Purpose is a book that Neil has recently co-authored. It's a practical guide for leaders who want to grow profit and have a positive impact on the world. Included in the book: Examples of inspiring businesses that have embedded purpose in their DNA, and who are making it work. The '7 Ps' - a systematic approach to making your business more purpose-led and profitable at the same time. The case for "doing more": why all business leaders have their role to play,...
Pieter Levels - Thinking and doing for yourself
May 16, 2022 06:05 - 1 hour - 90.8 MBHello and welcome to our conversation with Pieter Levels. Peter is the man behind NomadList.com, remoteOK.com, InflationChart.com, rebase.co and more. Pieter is hard to describe if you’re after an old-world description. He’s most certainly a business guy and a software developer guy but he works remotely, sometimes he charges for his creations, sometimes he doesn’t. He practices radical honesty with himself and others. He’s unafraid to experiment, to play and learned as a student t...
Steph Smith - Life done differently for the risk adverse
April 29, 2022 06:05 - 1 hour - 80.6 MBUntil she went to Sweden as part of a student exchange programme, Steph didn't really question the trajectory she was on. She was going with the flow. A spell in Sweden, a different culture with different people and in particular a different educational system woke Steph up to the idea that she had led a sheltered life and that different was at the very least interesting and at very best, significantly better than the way things were done back home. The idea that there were other w...
Rosie Sherry - Reckless Mother
April 14, 2022 21:00 - 1 hour - 148 MBHi All - in this episode we talk to Rosie Sherry. Rosie is a self-declared introvert and community builder extraordinaire. She is best known for the Ministry of Testing, Indie Hackers, Rosie.land and RecklessMother.com Rosie builds communities and has done so for more than 15 years. It includes the Sherry community of Rosie, Graham and their 5 kids aged 17 to 3 - none of whom go to school. It’s not that Rosie is looking to rebel. It's just that she seems to be clear about how sh...
Mills - Finding Myself
March 30, 2021 22:13 - 1 hour - 120 MBMills founded ustwo with Sinx, his mate from school. Ustwo has become a digital product studio, a games company and an investment business. They have always worked with the biggest brands in the world. In part, Neil & I enjoyed this because Mills is from a world we understand pretty well. It’s a world that’s exploded in the last 25 years or so. A world where creativity meets technology, a world where innovation is valued, where work and play, and an excess of both, is baked-in to ...
Emile Bennett - Letting Go
March 03, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 124 MBHi all - welcome to our conversation with Emile Bennett, Emile is a 37-year-old knife-maker and bladesmith but it’s taken him a while to feel comfortable with those descriptions. Previously his world was software, apps, websites and to begin with studio engineering. Originally from the UK, he now lives in Chamonix in the French Alps. Emile has spent most of his working life with the distinct feeling that he wasn’t doing what he was meant to do. This is Emile’s very frank story of h...
Charles Wookey - Reinvent Yourself
January 28, 2021 17:00 - 1 hour - 110 MBHi everyone. I hope you're doing okay given the circumstances. Welcome to our conversation with Charles Wookey. Charles is the CEO of A Blueprint for Better Business, a charity that helps organisations consider their social and environmental impact alongside their financial goals. This is how I know Charles. His organisation does some great work but how Charles' ended up with Blueprint is the interesting bit. Boarding school from the age of six is a mixed blessing. It's certainly n...
Junior Smart OBE - Leader - Part 2
November 13, 2020 11:00 - 1 hour - 128 MBHello hello - welcome to Part 2 of our conversation with Junior Smart. If you haven't listened to Part 1 I suggest you do that first. Part One takes us to the point where Junior is just about to be sent to prison for what turned out to be a twelve-year sentence. This is Part 2 where Junior describes the shock of prison, the meanness and the compassion of both prison staff and inmates. He describes his journey from being scared to being respected, from someone who went with the flow ...
Junior Smart - Getting comfortable with uncomfortable - Part 1
October 16, 2020 06:00 - 48 minutes - 76.5 MBJunior Smart is a youth leader, an ex-offender, an academic and a couple of months ago he added father to this list. If you don't believe people can change, listen to this. This is a story about the power of belonging. A need we all have to belong to a group. A lesson in how we often attach importance to the wrong things and end up in the wrong group, the wrong Club. It's a lesson in how, with an open mind and good people in your support team, you can change beyond your imaginatio...
Matt & Lucia Long - I'm actually an opera singer
October 05, 2020 18:00 - 1 hour - 94.7 MBHi everyone. Hope you're all okay, coping, surviving, learning, growing - it's hard to know what to say these days - we're all experiencing the same thing and whilst the experience is so shared sometimes . . . the more I talk to people the more I understand, at times, how very differently we're all experiencing it. This conversation is a good example. It's a conversation with Matt & Lucia, husband and wife, both professional singers, parents to Persephone, neighbours of my friend...
Ben Ivey - When did you feel most loved?
October 02, 2020 18:00 - 1 hour - 110 MBHi All - welcome to our conversation with Ben Ivey. Ben is a coach to Entrepreneurs but what makes Ben interesting is that he's interested in the Entrepreneur as a person, the whole person not just as a business person. He's as happy talking about love as he is margins. He wants you to live the best life you can, one where regrets are minimised and magic moments are maximised. Ben's awareness of business was there from an early age. Both his Grandad and Dad were property entrepre...
Tom Libelt - The Reluctant Adventurer
September 25, 2020 05:00 - 1 hour - 96.1 MBThis episode is a conversation with Tom Libelt, salesman, musician and DJ, coffee shop owner, publisher and most recently digital nomad. Thank you to Tom for a thoroughly enjoyable conversation. As you've probably noticed, our title for Tom is 'The Reluctant Adventurer'. For Tom, adventure is a reaction to boredom, not the primary motivation. It seems clear that Tom's parents and his wealth of experiences as a child played a role in shaping him. I loved hearing about the VCR and...
Ray & Neil | Change Uninvited Kick-Off
August 07, 2020 04:00 - 38 minutes - 87.3 MBThe benefits of being forced to do something we said we'd never do Responding to change The difference between hearing a story and experiencing it The need for human connection The importance of humour Finding ups within the downs Can you build real relationships via technology? How we can all experience the same event so very differently When fear and excitement become the same thing COVID-19 as a magic wand for the environment The possibility of Universal Basic Income (UBI) ...
Clare Farrell - Rebellion
July 10, 2020 06:00 - 2 hours - 282 MBShe tried mainstream fashion but didn't fit in. Clare doesn't fit in - in so many ways! Clare's a rebel. She suggests that rebellion became a part of her when she moved schools and studied the same syllabus and sat the same exams two years on the trot. Clare, because she was bright got very bored and that bred rebellion. I'm sure that year shaped Clare but I have very little doubt that Clare was born to rebel. Her childhood was characterised by instability and change. She learned ...
Katey Wiseman | Why we all need a support team
July 01, 2020 02:15 - 23 minutes - 43.4 MBWe met up a few weeks later and Katey told me more. More about: The wasted years of her life and how she started to doubt people were good Noticing she was angry with herself and everyone around her The point at which she decided not to be angry How she became braver, how she started to change How the simple act of liking an instagram post became the first step of her journey The importance of her friends who act as her support team The moment when she realised she was stro...
Damian Keyes - F**k Plan B
March 06, 2020 11:00 - 2 hours - 220 MBWe have a big old natter about: Growing up in Swansea The problem of doing what you want on your wedding day - when others want you to go with the flow (one week after this conversation Damian was getting married Vegas) Moving to New York The problem of describing what he does; Musician v Builder of Businesses The creativity of building businesses When he gets bored it's time to move on Being a five-star failer Good drummers = good videographers Playing Wembley Arena & Hy...
Dave Cornthwaite - Say Yes More
November 29, 2019 07:00 - 1 hour - 206 MBIn this episode, we talk to Dave about: the importance of articulating a vision when you're working in a team the move from graphic designer to Adventurer the move from adventurer to community leader not wanting to wait for the bad thing to happen before making changes to his life being a fortunate kid having 18 different addresses by the time he was 18 (because his Dad was in the RAF) not needing to make long-term friends because he was going to move on being physically and...
Kim Slade - Licking the Lid of Life
November 18, 2019 07:00 - 1 hour - 206 MBWe talked to Kim about Studying the stoner's degree that is music technology Not feeling he could focus enough to become a professional singer-songwriter Swapping music tours for travelling Enjoying the creative process Going to the Happy Startup School Summercamp five years previously when first looking to leave employment On the travelling bug and finding the places that other people don't Having a Mum and Dad who encouraged adventure The importance of a 'Buddy' (Nicola in...
Neil and Ray at the Cottage
October 21, 2019 00:00 - 33 minutes - 61 MBWe recorded this episode at Port Moor Cottage, a shack on stilts sitting on an island in Essex. It would be an understatement to say we've learned from our conversations with guests. They have been kind enough to share their stories of change and do so in some depth. In this wrap-up episode we talk about: The importance of a Support Team, positive people that have a genuine interest in you, your wellbeing and your growth The benefits of adopting a child-like curiosity to life The...
Mike Dicks - Who's saying you can't do what you want to do?
September 13, 2019 04:00 - 1 hour - 213 MBIn this conversation we explored: Why people often apologise for the work they do The stories we tell ourselves and how they can limit our development The inevitably of the ups and downs in our lives Why he eventually got expelled from college His first job selling computers at Dixons Meeting Sir Clive Sinclair His expected life trajectory of marry, kids, mortgage His problem with authority His ability to translate the features of technology into the benefits for humans ...
Pablo Woodward - What would you do if you only had one life?
July 19, 2019 09:30 - 1 hour - 178 MBThis conversation in the Bunny Bus covered many moments in the life of Pablo Woodward. This includes the arrival of his 3 children and the Disco Bunny plus: Realising he didn't have a life he'd asked for or wanted His quest to understand himself Going from not believing in himself to doing what he does with passion Going into shock when one of his first video's went viral Being accepted His need to learn, grow and push himself His sales pitch of free positive energy, free mu...
Rik Turner and Henrietta Jayden - What would you notice, if you slowed down?
July 05, 2019 09:30 - 1 hour - 183 MBWe talked to Rik and Hen about the new life they've created and how. They talk to us about: The productivity benefits of slowing down The importance of taking ownership of how we spend our time The importance of understanding when working harder isn't working Financial security in the future v being energised and healthy now The importance of creating time in order to connect with oneself Recognising rock bottom 'Time' becoming their new currency The vicious circle of the h...
Liam McGough - From big trees to Big Brother and back again - Part 2
June 21, 2019 10:30 - 1 hour - 126 MBThese show notes are a duplicate of those found in Part 1. Our conversation with Liam covered many topics. He talked openly about: Growing up thinking he was the dumb one Failing all his GCSE's Thinking he has undiagnosed dyslexia Finding confidence in his quick-wittedness and his climbing ability Deciding to study climbing trees because he was already good at that Feeling part stupid, part genius His talent for doing dickish things, just to see a person's reaction Telli...
Liam McGough - From big trees to Big Brother and back again - Part 1
June 21, 2019 09:00 - 52 minutes - 95.7 MBOur conversation with Liam covered many topics. He talked openly about: Growing up thinking he was the dumb one Failing all his GCSE's Thinking he has undiagnosed dyslexia Finding confidence in his quick-wittedness and his climbing ability Deciding to study climbing trees because he was already good at that Feeling part stupid, part genius His talent for doing dickish things, just to see a person's reaction Telling himself "don't be nervous because your brain will cope whe...
Alastair Humphreys - Fear is an adventure
June 07, 2019 09:30 - 1 hour - 143 MBWe chatted to Alastair at the British Library. He talked to us about: His natural personality of nervousness, stress and hate of late Coaxing himself to become more curious, more spontaneous, more relaxed and more adventurous Differentiate between the things where you have control and those you don't i.e. don't get frustrated with the waves because you can't change them Confidence is built from doing things and the trick is to keep the momentum going The impact of his advent...
Hamish McKenzie - How to recycle yourself out of the system
April 29, 2019 13:00 - 1 hour - 145 MBIt would be fair to say Hamish is not a conventional man. Check out The Bizarre Houseboats of Britain to see what I mean. He thinks and acts differently and the effect is certainly different. In this conversation he tells us: - Why he got rid of the TV at 18 years old - Why he rescued a shapely old Portsmouth Ferry from the riverbed - How his floating home became a reflection of his warped self - What a squircle is - The freedom that comes from a frugal lifestyle - The simple wa...
Laurence McCahill - Chipping away at the rock until the image reveals itself
April 29, 2019 12:00 - 1 hour - 188 MBLaurence and Carlos are designers of events and an online community that make entrepreneurs happy. In this conversation, Laurence talked to us about: Growing up in London pubs The family DNA of bringing people together The benefits of aligning what you think, say and do How he helps corporate hippies A life spent working out what he doesn't want to do Forgetting his vision which became a reality 20 years later (his wife Tamsin did not forget) Breaking his back in the middle o...
Bruce Daisley - How 'Cartoon Boy' finds the fast lane
March 20, 2019 14:00 - 1 hour - 110 MBWe wished we'd had longer with Bruce. He's a brilliant demonstration of what you can achieve if you truly understand your strengths. He seems very able in many areas but what sets him apart is his ability to understand and therefore reach his audience. He seems to always find a way to stand out from the crowd and when he doesn't, he persists. Bruce is a people person through and through. We talked about: His frustration with Greenpeace* Working hard but not compromising on his 8...
Fiona Oakes - Searching for pain in pursuit of purpose
February 14, 2019 11:00 - 1 hour - 111 MBFiona is the antidote to any 'get rich quick' or 'instagram' society. Her philosophy on life is simple; if there's a problem that needs fixing, fix it yourself. Don't talk about the problem, paper over the cracks, ask for help or look for shortcuts. Just get stuck in and learn from your experience. Expect problems and deal with them as they arise, the more you experience problems, the better equipped you'll be to deal with them in the future. In this conversation Fiona sheds light...
Oliver Dall - Wrap Up Episode
January 07, 2019 16:00 - 8 minutes - 8.39 MBIs this a useful format? Please tell us what you think over on twitter https://twitter.com/lifedonediff
Oliver Dall - How your weirdness can be your most valuable asset
January 07, 2019 14:00 - 1 hour - 192 MBOliver was our first ever guest. Neil happened to go into Oliver's store and was so enamoured with both the store and proprietor, he asked if we could meet. LifeDoneDifferent.ly was born. Oliver talked to us about: Selling plums outside his parents house How school really wasn't entertaining enough for him The benefits of having supportive, positive parents and positive friends At 16 why he ditched the idea of college for a job selling phones for O2 His experience of going fr...
Tom Hall - A life of risk and a heart attack at the ballet
January 05, 2019 13:00 - 1 hour - 188 MBWe met Tom at his very nice house in London. It's really nice! He shared his experiences in business and in life. He shared how he's changed and how his motivations have changed. What I like most about Tom is his ability to focus but never lose sight of the bigger picture including a super-skill in bringing his wide circle of friends and colleagues together. We talked about : How Miami Vice provided him with a focus on money Taking two companies public Having a rocket scientist...
Mark Williamson - Confessions of a recovering people pleaser
December 19, 2018 14:00 - 1 hour - 146 MBWe've known Mark and Action for Happiness for many years but this conversation was different. Here we learned about Mark's sometimes painful journey into the world of social entrepreneurship. It was a real pleasure to talk about: Big questions such as "What really matters in life?" What happens when you climb the ladder of success only to find you're climbing the wrong ladder What it takes to help people experience and create a happier world How our leaders have forgotten to f...
Monty Munford - Take it to the edge or don't take it at all
November 30, 2018 17:00 - 1 hour - 95 MB"Those who tell stories rule society" so said, Plato. Monty Munford collects and tells very good stories. He doesn’t run society yet, but we’ll have more fun when he does. Monty was on the way to the pub when the lure of a few unusual beers persuaded him to join us in Ray’s cellar for a conversation that helped explain: Why he runs fast towards the edge of life’s cliff and then walks back Why he’s fed up with journalism Why Peter Jones in Sloane Square is unlikely to replace hi...
Alan Phillips - When work is life
October 24, 2018 14:00 - 1 hour - 113 MBAlan says "creativity is intelligence having fun”. He balances some very rigid and carefully designed routines with architectural anarchy. He joined us in The Walrus pub where he shared his thoughts on life including: Why everything will be fine On vision as an ability to visualise and create order when others can only see chaos Why he’s looking for £100 per week from each of his kids A rock ‘n’ roll year working with Bono and The Edge Why Architects make very good lovers but...
Gina Lyons - When you have nothing to lose, you have everything to gain
October 18, 2018 12:00 - 41 minutes - 56.7 MB“I want one moment in time. When I'm more than I thought I could be”, so sang Gina Lyons and Whitney Houston every morning for two weeks as Gina’s dreamed of becoming Britain’s first reality TV appointed TV Producer. Gina met us in the Prince Albert pub to tell us what it’s like to be a rude working class girl with no fear and: How a night on the rum resulted in her purchase of a Sri Lankan hotel How her big break in TV evaporated and then reappeared How Ross Kemp beat her W...
Neil and Ray - Introducing a Life Done Different.ly
October 01, 2018 14:00 - 39 minutes - 54.6 MBWe recorded this episode in Ray's cellar having just recorded the ninth episode. We provide a bit of background which explains who we are, how we met and what we're interested in. Our plan is to have this sort of conversation every 10th episode or so. We cover the ideas that: successful lives are lived with a foot in each the known and the unknown if you want different results, you have to do something different the stories of others are what helps us focus beliefs have no val...