The Long and The Short Of It

Episode 274 - Favo(u)rite Things: 2023

Transcript:

Pete: Well, hello, Jen.

Jen: Well, hello, Peter.

Pete: It's that time of the year. It's that time of the year. It's the end of 2023, and I thought that we should do our Favo(u)rite Things episode that we do every year.

Jen: Yes, our annual end of the year tradition. I'm excited to share my favorite things of 2023. Let's do it.

Pete: Me too.

Jen: This is The Long and The Short Of It.

Pete: Alrighty. Alrighty, alrighty. So this is one of the few episodes where we must spend five minutes, ten minutes beforehand, preparing, gathering ourselves, and researching and reminding ourselves of the things that have happened over the last twelve months. So the categories that we've come up with...I can kick us off.

Jen: Okay.

Pete: First, we have the stalwarts, I would say. Is that a word? Did I make that up?

Jen: No, that's a real word.

Pete: Stalwarts, that's a word right?

Jen: Yeah.

Pete: We have the stalwarts in our favorite fiction book and our favorite non-fiction book.

Jen: Yep.

Pete: Our favorite podcast episode, both from our own catalogue and perhaps from someone else's catalogue.

Jen: Wait, wait, wait. I thought we agreed we were going to do favorite podcast of someone else's, and favorite episode of ours.

Pete: We did, I stand corrected. We did. We did. Apparently, I didn't do my homework properly. Damn it. Okay, then we said let's do favorite documentary/TV show/film.

Jen: Because we don't watch enough to have those as three separate categories, got it.

Pete: Something that you watched that is a favorite, yeah. Okay, favorite aha moment. I liked that one from last year, and we thought we'd include that this year.

Jen: Yeah.

Pete: Also known as favorite moment where you were called out. Favorite funny video, which I love because you always have such a funny one. It usually involves a news anchor making a mistake or a blooper of some description, or someone slipping over.

Jen: I am probably most excited about my video this year.

Pete: Good. Good, good. Good. Okay, favorite new habit.

Jen: Mmm.

Pete: And favorite new person. They are our categories. There's quite a few, so I guess we'll just dive on in.

Jen: Wow. Yeah, so those of you who thought you were coming here for eighteen minutes this week? Ha-ha, foiled.

Pete: Sorry 'bout it.

Jen: Okay, let's jump on in. Favorite fiction book...which is so funny that this is the first category because it's probably the one that we have the least experience with. Why don't you go first?

Pete: Well, I thought to myself, "Oh, that's alright. I'll find the fiction books that I read this year." And I have a little list of the books I read. And then I realized there were zero fiction books on my list, and I thought, "Oh, shit. Oh, shit." But then I remembered, wait a minute, I've been reading hundreds of fiction books in the form of children's books.

Jen: Right.

Pete: So my favorite fiction book of this year is Ollie's favorite fiction book, which is called Where's The Green Sheep? It's a little book about trying to find the green sheep who's gone missing. And, spoiler alert, they find him sleeping behind the hedge.

Jen: Aww.

Pete: So, Where's The Green Sheep? That's my favorite fiction book. What about you?

Jen: Well, during the summer, I read fiction on the beach, which is a delight. And this summer, I read the entire Anthony Horowitz murder mystery catalogue. And I refuse to pick just one because I found the whole experience completely enjoyable, love a great murder mystery to read on the beach. So Anthony Horowitz, everything he's written.

Pete: Well played. Well played. There's something strange about the combination of a crime fiction book and being at the beach, like those two go hand in hand.

Jen: I agree with you. It's like peanut butter and chocolate, baby. So good.

Pete: Yeah. Okay, what about favorite non-fiction book?

Jen: I refused to pick just one.

Pete: Of course you did.

Jen: So, I picked two. One is a non-fiction book that is not story based. And the other was an autobiography.

Pete: Okay.

Jen: So, my favorite non-fiction book of the year...which, I read a lot of non-fiction, so this was hard.

Pete: It's really hard.

Jen: But it is Awaken Your Genius by Ozan Varol. I loved this book so much that I made it required reading for my summer coaching program this year. It is quite brilliant and exciting to read. So, Awaken Your Genius.

Pete: Mmm-hmm.

Jen: And then, I've started doing a lot more autobiography. And I do that in the form of audiobooks, which is completely wonderful, a great experience. So, I read a bunch of those via audiobook. But the one that really impacted me quite a lot was Matthew Perry's autobiography, Friends, Lovers and The Big Terrible Thing. And my daughter asked for the book for Christmas.

Pete: Wow.

Jen: Because I was talking about it so much. And I thought, "Wow." You know, may he rest in peace. He tried so hard to fight this thing. And I feel like he would be pleased to know that a young woman who's about to turn fourteen is going to read his book and make decisions for herself in her life, based on the things he was willing to share. And I just thought, "Wow, what a legacy." Totally.

Pete: Totally. That's like the ultimate legacy of writing any book.

Jen: Right?

Pete: Nice.

Jen: Yeah.

Pete: Okay, so I agree with you, this was an impossible category to answer in terms of favorite. So, I went for...I think I might have done this last year...I tried to think about it through like which book of the many non-fiction has had the biggest impact or helped change the most in my life. Because I feel like I often read non-fiction to learn and then hopefully apply the learnings. And sometimes, I'm better at that than others. And so the book I chose is called Move Well, by Kelly and Juliet Starrett. They are husband and wife strength and conditioning coaches based in the States, and they started their career (I'm sure I'm butchering it) many, many years ago with one of like the first CrossFit gyms in America. And they have been on this whole journey of exploring human movement, human potential, and how to move well. And this book is broken down...it's super practical, which is why I like it so much. It's broken down into what they call like the vital signs of a human who moves well. And then, it gives you basically like, "Here are things you should be doing every single day. For example, sitting on the floor." And it goes into why that's important and why that's healthy. And so like, there are things from that book, like sitting on the floor, that I literally incorporated in to every day of this year. So that book was one that's had the biggest impact on me, I think. But gosh, I could name so many others from this year.

Jen: I know, there's so many good ones.

Pete: I do have to shout out Walter Isaacson, who wrote the biography of Elon Musk. Controversial divisive figure, unbelievably well written book though, by Walter Isaacson. And just explores the troubled genius, I think, that is someone that intelligent in Elon Musk.

Jen: Wow. Okay. Next up, Pete, is favorite podcast, not ours.

Pete: Okay. Yes. So like you said, I had a lot of trouble coming up with an episode. So we agreed, let's go a whole podcast. And so...there's a flavor to a lot of my answers to this episode, because a lot of the flavor is dad related.

Jen: Yep.

Pete: So, shocker. And so my favorite podcast is a podcast by an Australian comedian, actually, a household name, a guy called Hamish Blake. And he has done this like serious thing that he wanted to do, which was a podcast called How Other Dads Dad. And it's serious for him, but still hilarious in the way that he interviews people. But he just basically interviews household names in Australia, famous dads or famous figures in Australia who are also dads, and they just talk about, "How do you think about being a dad? What's your philosophy? What are the hard parts? What are the great parts?" And it's awesome. It's so awesome. And I know I have so many friends who, I would say, don't necessarily fall into the category of wanting to read non-fiction books and wanting to learn and immerse themselves in self-development. They have an aversion to it. And they love this podcast. So I'm like, it's doing a really good service. And I personally just love it. How Other Dads Dad.

Jen: Ooh, great.

Pete: What about you?

Jen: Mine is Heavyweight, which is Jonathan Goldstein's podcast. It is so brilliant, so funny, so moving. Essentially, it's kind of like he's a detective. People bring him things from their life that are just unresolved that they are carrying (a heavy weight) around, and he investigates that thing to try to help bring them closure. And these personal stories are so...there's no way I could do it justice. You have to listen to an episode to understand what it is. But he has really struck gold, and I've enjoyed Heavyweight since the very first episode. And I don't know if I've ever mentioned it here on this podcast, which was wrong of me. So now, I'm righting that wrong.

Pete: Nice. Alright. Yeah, I've never heard you mention this podcast, so now I need to check it out.

Jen: It's so good.

Pete: Okay, what about episode from The Long and The Short Of It? What's your favorite episode from the last twelve months?

Jen: So, I had a really hard time picking this. Because the previous year, it was so obvious that it was the live episode, because the energy was so unique.

Pete: That was fun.

Jen: So, I went with the one that has been most quoted back to me this year.

Pete: Oh, nice. Nice. Nice. Nice.

Jen: And that is one all the way back from January.

Pete: Oh.

Jen: Which is called First Pancakes.

Pete: Nice. Great choice. Was that this year? Holy crap.

Jen: Right? It's so wild. So, First Pancakes. For those of you who missed it, of course it'll be in the Box O' Goodies this week. There was a podcast that you and I were listening to that featured a conversation between Simon Sinek, Brene Brown, and Adam Grant.

Pete: Mmm-hmm.

Jen: Heroes.

Pete: And you got name dropped.

Jen: Yeah, and I got name dropped.

Pete: Yeah.

Jen: By them, around this concept of first pancakes. So you and I recorded an episode about the idea of first pancakes, and it has caught on like wildfire at the studio. And I love it.

Pete: Nice, that's a good choice. I also had a very hard time picking an episode. And I think I was also reflecting on last year and how we had the live episode. It was so obvious. It was like, that's obviously the best episode. So I was looking at them like, "Which one brought the most levity? Which one made us laugh?" And I couldn't quite remember because all we have is like obscure titles, and I'm like, "I can't even remember what we talked about." So I went with one that I remember fondly, because it was unique in that we had a guest. I went with Seth's interview, which was Episode 259, about halfway through the year, where we talked to Seth Godin about his book, The Song of Significance, which was fun because we had Seth on as a guest, which we never do. But it was also fun for me because (I think we mentioned this in the episode) the topic of his book is so provocative to the audience that I work with.

Jen: Yeah.

Pete: I.e., leaders and organizations. And so I just, I think about it and refer back to it all the time. So, that would be my favorite podcast that we did this year.

Jen: Oh, that has to be my runner up, because that is probably the second most quoted back to me podcast of ours. Because he went on a rant about the theater. And when people...especially, for some reason, they do this in writing more than they do it when they're talking to me live. When someone is emailing me and says "the theatre industry", they almost always then put in parentheses, "(The theater)".

Pete: Nice. Nice. That's great. Thank you, Seth. Love that. Okay, what about favorite documentary/TV show/thing that you watched?

Jen: Okay, I have to say my TV consumption went up in 2023.

Pete: Oh my god, me too.

Jen: And this is likely because my husband is in town more these days than in years past, and we watch TV together. We are British TV fans, so it is very hard for me to pick. But I am going to go with the latest season of Happy Valley, which features some of the most extraordinary acting that has ever been done on camera.

Pete: Wow. Okay, that's quite a big wrap.

Jen: It's so good. I'm not going to say anything because I don't want to spoil a darn thing about it. But actors, please watch this, because the acting is so good. What about you, Pete?

Pete: I also increased the amount of time that I watched TV this year. I think it's because of when we would put Ollie down, we would, Tracey and I would enjoy watching like an episode, or half an episode often, of a show. And that was like our way of just taking a deep breath at the end of the day. So I had so many clients telling me to watch this and I've heard so many people talk about this, and I hadn't watched it. We watch Succession this year.

Jen: It's so good. So good.

Pete: It is so good. Oh my god, it is so good. So good, for so many reasons. Including the fact that the place we got married in Italy actually features on that show, randomly.

Jen: Wow.

Pete: Which was a fun little aside. But that show, the power dynamics, the fact that you're sitting there going, "I feel like this might be partly a biography. Partly true, so much of this."

Jen: Yes.

Pete: So, it's just...Succession, brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

Jen: Also, the acting on that show is extraordinary.

Pete: Right. It's like one of those rare shows where you kind of hate every character, but you love the show.

Jen: Mmm-hmm.

Pete: And I can't wrap my head around that. Because usually, there's like a favorite character that you're like following their journey. But this was like so complicated about, you kind of despise them all or feel sorry for them all. I don't know, it was crazy.

Jen: Yes, they are not likable characters. Which I think makes their multiple seasons of success such a triumph, to be able to write unlikable characters that you can't get enough of. That's amazing.

Pete: Mmm. Right. Agreed. Agreed, agreed. So Succession, so good. So good. Okay, what about favorite aha moment/moment of being called out? Now, you also call this...what did you call this, a door hinge moment? A hinge?

Jen: A hinge. You know, a moment where everything turns.

Pete: Aha, I see. Yeah, like a hinge. Clever.

Jen: What was your favorite hinge/aha/Pete gets called out moment of 2023?

Pete: Mine was one...you know, it's like a lesson that I've learned that I have to always relearn. And it was, so I'd committed to taking six weeks of leave, of time off when he was born, and no work. And about two weeks before that was due to start, i.e. two weeks before he was born, I had an opportunity that came up that was going to be around about the third or fourth week of when I was meant to be on leave. And it was, "Hey, we could you come to Sydney and do this keynote? There's a hundred senior leaders from this huge organization in Australia that really want to hear you speak on this particular topic, around empathetic leadership." And I was like, "Oh, this is a big, juicy opportunity. I would be crazy to not see if I can make this work." So I said, "I'll think about it," because I was meant to be on leave, and I shared that with them. And then, I called one of my collaborators/friends who also works at this organization, who's helped orchestrate a bunch of leadership development work that I've been doing with them. And she said to me, I'm paraphrasing, but she said to me something along the lines of, "There will always be another opportunity. This is not the last opportunity you'll ever get to deliver a keynote or a workshop in front of a hundred senior people. So knowing that, what do you think is the right thing to do?" And so, I said, "No, I'm not going to do it. I'm going to have my six weeks leave, like I promised." And I did. But the aha for me was, "There's always another opportunity. There's always another opportunity. Saying no leaves space for other yesses down the line." And I feel like I learn that lesson at least twice a year, but it really hit me this year.

Jen: That's a good one.

Pete: And when that date came around, I was like so in the bubble of like sleep deprivation and like just besotted with Ollie, I was like, "I cannot even fathom going to Sydney to do a keynote right now." So, correct decision. What about you?

Jen: Wow, mine feels like the inverse of yours.

Pete: Oh.

Jen: And I have to preface this...because I have a feeling I'm about to freak some listeners out right now. I have to preface this by saying I'm 1,000% fine. But Pete, as you might recall, over the summer, I had a crazy health scare that lasted a couple of weeks, where I really did not know what was going on. And it was absolutely frightening. I'm totally fine. Anyway, during that time, I had this...it was almost like an instant aha, where I said to myself, "There are certain things that I don't want to take to the grave with me."

Pete: Mmm.

Jen: And it's not even necessarily like things I need to say to people. It was like, "There's certain ideas, there are certain stories, there are certain projects that I've been waiting to do that, I should just do them now." So it's like almost the inverse of your keynote aha, where it's like, "Well, there will always be more keynotes," and then my aha was like, "What are you waiting for?"

Pete: Right. Yeah. I love that.

Jen: Yeah, it was...it was intense. So I can't say it was my favorite moment, but it definitely was an aha.

Pete: Right. Right, right. I remember that, yeah. I'm so glad you're okay. It feels like a weird transition from here to ask about your favorite funny video, but I'm going to do it anyway. What about your favorite funny video, Jen? Let's bring some levity back.

Jen: Okay. I was going to go funny, but I decided to go special.

Pete: Okay.

Jen: So my sister sent me a video of my niece, Renee...who at the time was five, she's since had a birthday...dancing an interpretive modern dance, an interpretive contemporary dance to the song A Million Dreams from The Greatest Showman. And I was so obsessed with this video because she so clearly, through her interpretive dance, has something deep and profound to say.

Pete: Wow.

Jen: So I probably watched it like a hundred times. And then, I had this idea pop into my head, and I sent the video to a dear friend and client, Kody Jauron, who is a professional dancer, and I said, "Could you recreate this?"

Pete: Oh, nice.

Jen: And he recreated the dance. And I have split screened them side by side and I got my sister's permission to post this video, so I will include it in the Box O' Goodies. You can also find it on my Instagram. It is so incredible to watch an adult turn on their empathy to the point where they are able to understand what a five year old is trying to say with her body.

Pete: Wild.

Jen: And then, repeat it back to her. And I got to watch my niece watch this video, and it was like one of the great moments of life. It's amazing.

Pete: Wild. That is wild. I feel like the video of watching it back might have even been the highlight of the video. You know, like that was the better video than the actual video itself.

Jen: I should have videoed the moment, but that is just burned into my memory. Now, what about you, Peter? What's your favorite funny video of the year?

Pete: Well, I was inspired by a funny video of yours that I see each year, which is that hilarious video of you falling over on a chair that you share once a year and make everyone laugh, which I love.

Jen: Yep, chair video.

Pete: And so, I will gladly take the piss out of myself. A couple of weeks ago, I had spent, I don't know, like four or five hours in a row on Zoom. And I was feeling like I needed a deep breath and some fresh air. And Tracey and Ollie, who I hadn't seen all day because I'd been working, I noticed had ducked out to get in the car to go somewhere to do something. And I was like, "Oh no! I just want to see Ollie like just before and say goodbye because I haven't seen them all day." And so, I like jog outside. I put my laptop bag down. (And I'm describing this in detail because there's a video of it, and I'll put it in the Box O' Goodies.) And I go to run down the stairs to wave goodbye to Ollie and Tracey, thinking, "Of course Tracey is going to see me. They're going to be aware. They'll stop the car." And it gets pretty evident to me that they're not. She can't see me and she continues to drive off. And so, I like try to pick up the pace as I'm running downstairs, and I trip over and I completely faceplant on the deck at the front of my house. I roll onto the grass which, you can't tell, but it's like sopping wet because it had been raining the night before. And I like stand myself up. And finally, Tracey looks over and she's like, "What are you doing?" So, there is a video of that in action. Me tripping down the stairs, army rolling onto the grass, and then standing up. So, I'll put it in the Box O' Goodies. It's funny.

Jen: Oh. When this showed up in our Slack channel, it brought me so much joy. I was glad you were okay. But damn, it's funny.

Pete: The thing that's wild about those moments is as I was falling, I distinctly remember thinking, "This is going to be on video." Because we have a security camera above the door, and I was like, "This is on video."

Jen: Oh my gosh, that is hilarious.

Pete: Yeah.

Jen: Alright, favorite new habit. What's your favorite new habit, Pete?

Pete: My favorite new habit is bath time with Ollie at night.

Jen: Mmm.

Pete: It is so much fun just seeing this tiny little human figure out water, and like splashing and screaming and squealing and carrying on. And it's an obvious thing to say, but there's nothing that will ground you in the present like spending time with a tiny, tiny, tiny baby.

Jen: Mmm.

Pete: And for me, that's particularly the case when I'm in the bath and, you know, just laughing and singing and carrying on with little inflatable toys with Ollie. So my favorite new habit is each evening, I have a bath with Ollie. And it's a bunch of fun.

Jen: Oh gosh, that sounds heavenly.

Pete: What about you?

Jen: Well, I've started doing something that I call cellphone roulette.

Pete: Oh my gosh, tell me more.

Jen: And it is the best. Actually, you can do it with me right now, Pete. We'll do a round of it right now. And listeners, if you are so moved, grab your cellphone. Go to your contacts.

Pete: Contacts.

Jen: And Pete, what letter should we do today?

Pete: Oh, I don't know, J.

Jen: Okay, J. So, tap the J. I have an iPhone, so tap the J.

Pete: Tap the J, yeah.

Jen: And then without looking, you're just going to like swipe up a couple times. Okay.

Pete: Yep.

Jen: Now, look at your screen. Pick one of those people. So, I have picked my person.

Pete: Me too.

Jen: Okay. And then, you open your text messages.

Pete: Okay.

Jen: And you say something like the following, which I will dictate into my phone so you can all hear me doing this.

Pete: Oh my gosh.

Jen: "Hi, Josh. I was just scrolling through my phone, and saw your name. It made me smile to think of you. I hope you're doing great!" And then, I hit send.

Pete: Oh my god, that is so cool.

Jen: Okay, now, it truly does bring me joy to see these names. And I try to pick people that I haven't spoken to in a while. And so far, I have a 100% return rate on my phone roulette texts. And I have reconnected with so many amazing people. It has been one of my favorite things to do, my favorite new habit of 2023.

Pete: That's the best. Also, I landed on Josh...a different Josh.

Jen: Oh, how weird. So you can just, you know, play my recording into your transcriber.

Pete: The last message I have was, "You missed a call from Josh." And it was yesterday morning, and I don't even remember that call coming through. So now, I'm going to call him after this.

Jen: See? Cellphone roulette, it's the best.

Pete: Wild. Alright, cellphone roulette. Okay, final category, Jennifer...drum roll...your favorite new person from 2023. Who's your favorite new person?

Jen: My favorite new person is teenage Cate.

Pete: Oh, nice. Yeah, a different person.

Jen: Yeah. In the last year, she has really solidified into a young woman with really cool ideas, deep empathy. She's become physically attached to her guitar, you can't even pry it out of her hands. She's just like turned into this really cool person who I find endlessly fascinating and who I really like to be around. And I was trepidatious about the teenage years.

Pete: Of course.

Jen: But it's been really great to meet teenage Cate.

Pete: That's amazing. I feel like I hear so many stories of the opposite, so it's nice to hear that. Like, "The teenage years are so hard," which I'm sure they are, but still, it's nice to know that you can find some joy and some beauty in there.

Jen: Yeah, she's the best. What about you?

Pete: Well, I mean, this feels so obvious because it's so easy for me. My favorite new person is Oliver Shepherd. Oliver Jonathan Shepherd, my son, who I got to meet for the first time in July.

Jen: Yeah.

Pete: And he's also the best.

Jen: He's so cute.

Pete: And each day, you know, does something new, because he's so young and like just developing constantly. And each day, I find a new favorite thing that I have about him. And yeah, just, he's the best. I mean, funnily enough, we thought we had such a unique name, Tracey and I. Because we were like, "I don't know an Oliver. Do you know an Oliver?" "I don't know an Oliver, no. And we love the name Oliver. Let's call our son Oliver." And then, we were walking...like, this is while Tracey was still pregnant. We were walking around the park nearby here and there was a little game of footy on, which is Australian rules. I won't go into explaining the rules of Australian rules. It's an Australian football game. And there were kids everywhere, and literally every second kid was Ollie. And it was like, "Ollie, pass me the ball." "Ollie, over here." "Ollie, over there." And we were walking around going, "Oh dear god, we've called our son like the most popular name of all time."

Jen: Oh my gosh, that was my childhood as Jennifer. Everybody in 1975 was named Jennifer, everybody.

Pete: Right. Well, I think everybody in 2023 has named their kid Oliver. So, sorry 'bout it Ollie, but I still think you're my favorite new person.

Jen: He is the cutest. He looks like a little doll.

Pete: Yeah.

Jen: Wow. Well, Pete, it's always such a joy to do this episode because it requires some reminiscing. And you know, recency bias typically means that we're only remembering with fondness things that happened very recently. So it was fun to go all the way back to January and go, "Okay, well, what experiences did I have this year?"

Pete: Yeah. The wild thing for me was there was like half of this year that was pre-Ollie, and that just feels like it's not even a thing. You know? It's wild.

Jen: What's the point of discussing that? Well, friends, hopefully you are subscribed to our Box O' Goodies because there will be links to every single thing we mentioned over there. And once you check some of this stuff out, we'd love to hear what you think: hello@thelongandtheshortpodcast.com.

Pete: If you have any funny videos or favorite podcasts or favorite books, please feel free to send them through as well. And that is The Long and The Short Of It.