Here I am, sitting in a hotel room in Melbourne, in Australia. I've got a whole mountain of things that I want to get done in the next two or three days. And I've got about one tenth of it done before all sorts of other thoughts kick in. Massive sciatica in both legs. Don't usually get it in both legs, sometimes get it in one. Suddenly very interested in going exploring the local cafes. And finding somewhere with some nice cakes to eat. And it seems that the more I try and sit down and do the things that I had set for the next few days to be done, the more, somehow my brain is desperately trying to find ways of distracting me of finding other things to do, of encouraging me to not set to with those things. And I recognize this. This happens, it's a common trope in my life that just when I want to set to and make a break through on something, somehow everything else becomes more interesting to do. And it's probably true for most of us that procrastination is a thing that...

- [Stuart] This is Episode 17 of the Great Escape Podcast, this week with Maura Sweeney.
- [Male Voiceover] We are go for lift-off in T minus 30. All systems are a-go. Hit it.
- [Stuart] So Maura started her life on a track into law and a professional life down that road, and one of the things that struck me when I first met Maura was the way that she decided that wasn't the life for her. So, Maura, welcome to the podcast.
- [Maura] Stuart, thanks very much for having me on.
- [Stuart] You are so welcome. So, tell us, tell us how you began to realize that this road you were being driven down by society and all of the pressures that were, sort of, external to you as a young person, how you suddenly thought, no, this isn't where I wanna go.
- [Maura] Well, I could tell you it was a slow, laboring drain. It came to a head when I was 23 years old, literally at the mid-point of my legal studies after graduating from university when, and I think that there was something in it in that I had...

The sound quality for today's going to be really quite strange 'cause I'm using my handheld recorder, standing on Pambula Beach which is on the East coast of Australia, looking out over the rising sun over the ocean. There's nothing between me and New Zealand, I think, going that way. This morning, I've had breakfast sittin next to a pair of kangaroo just nibbling by the campsite. And we've had parakeets land on our van. And it's a stunning blue sky, hardly a cloud in the sky. Really lovely day. Something that's cropped up a couple of times in messages that you've sent me, and also in Angela's interview on Saturday on the last episode was about people who were trying to make changes, over-planning, especially when trying to start a business. And something that I found when I was working at the Henley Business School teaching entrepreneurship was that there is a clear gender difference in the way people approach making change and starting businesses. And that is that men tend to get...

- [Stuart] This is the Great Escape Podcast, episode 14.
- [Announcer] We are go for lift off in T minus 30. All systems are a go.
- [Stuart] And today, I'm talking to Angela Marshall and I'm gonna introduce her in her own words. She said that she resigned from 20 years in the corporate world to embrace the purpose that has pursued her throughout her life. You know what, Angela, that's a hell of an intro. Tell us about--
- [Angela] Drop the mic.
- [Stuart] Drop the mic, yeah. Tell us about your life before you made that change.
- [Angela] So, I will say this. Coming from a former NFL wife background, I was a housewife steward until I was forced, well, not gonna say forced, until I made a couple of changes in my life and needed money, basically, to take care of myself and my children and I went into the corporate world around 1999. So, I was a documentations specialist for this pharmaceutical company. And, I actually have several promotion and progression steps during that time, 'cause I...

- This is the Great Escape Podcast, episode 14: "A Little Escape" with thoughts on community.
- Several of my podcast guests recently, and some that you haven't heard yet because they're in upcoming episodes, have talked about the importance of being in a community; of having friends and family who they can talk to, who they can explore ideas with, who can encourage them, who can hold them to account or even criticize them. And that's had me thinking quite a lot about when I've been happiest in my life is when I've been in relationships with people, not necessarily big, serious relationships, just relationship, friendship or whatever it is; that have been positive and uplifting, sometimes challenging. But rarely sort of blindly critical. And the times when I've felt worst, especially times where my mental health has been at its worst; have been the times when I've been incredibly alone, even in the midst of a crowd. And part of that is my own doing, when I'm feeling down I tend to...

Little Escape episodes are recorded wherever I am and usually have a lower level of audio finesse.

I was talking with a friend the other day and in our conversation, the idea or concept of generosity came up. We both talked about stories we've heard of people having their restaurant bills paid for them by some anonymous donor, somebody else in the restaurant. This has actually happened to my family and myself. We were on holiday about10 years ago in Florida, my ex-wife and our three children, sitting in a restaurant in the middle of Florida enjoying a meal, and at the end of the meal we came to pay our bill and the waitress said,
"No, you're good to go, somebody else has paid your bill."

We were deeply blessed by that and very touched, it was a random act of kindness. It was a random act of kindness that we, it was a random act of kindness that we weren't expecting, that we weren't able really to say thank you to the donor or the giver. We said to the waitress, you know,

"Please let...

In this episode I've decided to talk a bit about my own life, which in some ways is quite difficult because I don't think my life's anything particularly extraordinary. I lived it, it's what's happened. Well, I'm living it, not in the past tense. And in other ways I'm aware that some of the things that I've done have been relatively extraordinary. Some of them have been incredibly painful, both for myself and for other people involved, and it's quite difficult to talk about some of those things without being aware of who might be listening and what they might feel about my view of the world. So please, as you listen to this, be aware that some of the people I'm referring to are still alive, are still around, and their view of these events may be quite different to my view. I try to be fair, but we all see things from our own perspectives. And when I talk about some of the stuff that I've done in my life, as some of you will know I've survived a broken neck, which was a pretty...

Little Escape episodes are recorded wherever I am and usually have a lower level of audio finesse.

- [Stuart L. Morris] This is The Great Escape Podcast. Episode 10.
- [Announcer] We are Go for liftoff in T minus 30. All systems are a Go.
- [Stuart] Well actually it's the 11th episode because I started counting from zero which is a bit of a geek joke and now I feel I have to continue it because it's too difficult to change and renumber all the episodes. Last time I was interviewing Michael Cordova who left his corporate job and started Floating Point Center just outside Reading in the UK. And he and his wife Tina have built a business that they run themselves, that they're passionate about, that they enjoy, and that is meeting the needs of their family as they expect the birth of their first child. As something that struck me particularly about Michael's story last time was how he said that he had ended up basically stalking me to the car park of the organization we both worked at at...

- [Stuart] And today I'm talking to Michael Cordova, managing director of The Floating-Point Center, a flotation centre in Reading, in the United Kingdom, and we'll find out all about what floating actually is
'cause that's probably going to be the first question I'll ask. Michael and I met in I think about 2014, just as he was beginning the process of thinking how to leave his corporate life, and go floating. Michael, welcome to the podcast.
- [Michael] Thanks, for having me on to do it.
- [Stuart] You're very welcome. Okay, well I'll ask the question, Tell us what floating is.
- [Michael] Well, floating is is a way to achieve a deep state of meditation. Um, it's a good way to de-stress and relax. Uh, for those of- for many of those I guess who haven't seen a float-tank or float-tub before, the-they're going um, there's more-more of them appearing all over-all over the world. But essentially, they're a giant pod they're about the same size as a family car. So about 7 foot long by about...