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Latest Episodes:

Neven Maguire on Working Hard, Food Experiences, and Leading by Example! - EP048 Dec 17, 2017

Show notes

In this very special episode of the show, I was delighted to sit down and chat with Neven Maguire.
Neven Maguire is one of Ireland’s best-loved chefs. The restaurateur and media personality is well known for his award-winning MacNean House & Restaurant in Blacklion, Co. Cavan. He is also an author and has a new Book out at the moment - Neven Maguire's Perfect Irish Christmas - which he was kind enough to give me a signed copy of!
I was struck by Neven's passion and energy during our 40+ minute conversation where we cover a lot about his career, life lessons, experiences, and so much more. Just to give you a taste, some of the topics we covered are:
•Earliest Memories growing up around Christmas with Family and Food.
•Always wanting to work with food and cooking from the age of 12.
•Being the first in his school studying Home Economics.
•A view on why Home Economics should be a subject for everyone in School.
•Pride of employing 65 people in his business in Blacklion.
•The value of hard-work at the core of everything Neven does.
•Giving his customers an amazing experience when they visit his restaurant
•Learnings from a number of restaurants from Belfast, to Berlin, and Luxembourg, taking on new skills along the way and making a lot of friends.
•The importance of influences along his journey.
•The Vision for MacNean house when he took it over in 2003.
•Management and Leadership style in the Kitchen.
•Treating his employees like a family and creating an environment for the team to prosper, grow and learn.
•His role evolving over the last few years.
•Becoming an Ambassador for St. James's Target Lung Cancer & working with Dunnes Stores as the Ambassador for Simply Better.
•Enjoying the media work and feeling privileged being on TV.
•Creating cook books and recipes that people can make at home.
•Sampling food in his own restaurant and being very proud of the experience.
•Cooking simple dishes at home with the family and replicating these on the tv shows.
•If not working in the food business, what?
•Passion for Football, Manchester United and People.
•Having a real passion for helping people and realizing how lucky he is with life.
•Training, Exercise and the importance of keeping active for the mind and body.
•Sleep pattern and running on 5-6 hours per night.
•Setting goals to get healthier and be on the road less in 2018.
•Best piece of advice given and shared.
•Views on Success.
•Celebrities who Neven would share dinner with.
•Death Row Meal.
I really hope you enjoy this episode. To learn more about Neven and MacNean House, check out the links on the episode page on the site here - www.robofthegreen.ie/episodes/ep48-nevenmaguire/
Have a great day,
Rob

Samantha Kelly AKA tweetinggoddess on Twitter Communities, Vision Boards & Her First Tweet ! EP047 Dec 10, 2017

Show notes

In this episode, I talk with Samantha Kelly AKA Tweetinggoddess
Samantha Kelly is an Award Winning Social Media Strategist and a Dynamic and Engaging Speaker, Trainer and Author. She is also the founder of the Women Inspire Network. She has built a huge Twitter following and presence over the last few years and continues to go from strength to strength. I was delighted to get to talk to her and record this episode back in late October.
In our conversation, we cover a broad range of topics and learn a lot about Samantha’s approaches, focus, and of course we discuss twitter and how you could become more than 1% Better in the area of Social Media.
Please enjoy and SUBSCRIBE to my podcast on iTunes or wherever you listen so you don’t miss out on the full episode Monday or any future shows that come out!
Some of the topics we discuss on the show:
•A typical day and week in the life of a Social Media Strategist
•Planning for the week ahead
•The best times to tweet on a daily basis
•Getting Tweets from Mark Hamill AKA Luke Skywalker
•How to build relationships with influencers
•Using listening skills and helping others to make an impact
•Samantha recalls sending her first tweet & then figuring out how it all works
•Starting to follow people she liked
•Building a community of like-minded people
•The importance of putting out good content
•Developing a thick skin and becoming a leader!
•Type 1 Diabetes and how you can build a community around this
•Balancing your passion and work commitments
•Having a love for the ‘razzle dazzle’ and presenting at events
•How to set up your own twitter account and building a following
•Figuring out your branding, and your logo
•The opportunities with B2B and SMBs on Twitter
•The Regular 1% Better Questions touching on:
oEarliest Memories growing up
oEarly ambitions of being a radio DJ
oThe importance of influencers and mentors in her career so far!
oPlanning Goals using Vision Boards
oReflecting on achievements
oRecommendations on who to follow
Book Recommendation – Chicken Soup for the Soul
How to connect with Samantha & the Women Inspire Network:
Samantha on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tweetinggoddess
Samantha’s website:https://www.tweetinggoddess.com/
Women Inspire Network:https://www.womensinspirenetwork.com
Thanks so much for listening and again, please SUBSCRIBE to the podcast! That would mean a lot!
Best,
Rob

Shane Cradock on Mindset, Visioning & Permission to Dream - EP046 Dec 03, 2017

Show notes

In this episode, I talk with Shane Cradock. Shane has many roles. He is a Business, Life & Sports Performance Coach, a Consultant, a Public Speaker, a Playwright, an Author and a self-professed Messer!
From the very start of the conversation, we dived into interesting topics from Shane’s work life and personal journey. Shane very openly and honestly talks about some of the struggles and challenges he faced in his early twenties that changed his direction in life which has lead him to his life’s work of helping others.
In 1995, Shane had a change in direction and started to focus on doing what he enjoys, making an impact and taking action. Over the next few years, Shane worked towards leaving the corporate world and set up a practice in helping others.
Shane has become obsessed with learning and personal development ever since, improving his mental and spiritual awareness. He notes he’s spent over $300k on personal development over the last two decades.
Shane believes that we are only scratching the surface of what we can achieve and has had great experiences working with clients that have set outrageously big goals and visions and have realized them. The key is to give yourself the permission to dream.
Shane has released an updated version of his book called Inspire Me: Life Wisdom to Pass on! I was looking forward to him sharing some wisdom and 1% better practices that you could take onboard to help you improve and he didn't disappoint.
During the conversation, we touched on many topics including:
Becoming an obsessive learner
Influencers from the initial stages of his journey – Brian Tracy, Tony Quinn & Tony Robbins
The future of business and how this links closely with personal development
Mindfulness & Meditation practices including Transcendental Meditation (TM)
NLP (Neurolinguistics Programming) & Learning how to Clear the mind!
The power of the Mind which is an asset we don’t utilize fully
From experience, what are the Habits of highly successful people
The Benefits of Slow Walking to help calm the mind and relieve stress
The Difference and Similarities working with C-Level and Entrepreneurs
The Metaphor of the Rocks in the Jar & how to identify what is important and of value
Discovering the Vision & Meaning of Values
The power of setting the vision and giving yourself permission to achieve it!
Moving away for the Ego to the Eco!
The Power of Intention and Experience of higher forces out there!
The Development and Growth of Meaningful work and Spiritual Conversations in the Workplace
Bringing more meaning and purpose into the workplace for the workforce
Learning from Elon Musk’s Business Coach
Learning to Say No
Wrap up questions On:
A Typical Day
Sleep Patterns & Importance
Work Patterns
Blocking time for fun
Importance of having time to do nothing
Book Recommendations:
Awareness – Tony DeMello
If you’d like to know more about Shane and what he does, feel free to connect by:
Website – www.shanecradock.com
Twitter - https://twitter.com/shanecradock
Thank you so much for taking the time to listen. If you have, I'd love if you took another few minutes to subscribe, share, tweet, or tell another about the podcast. The more that hear it, the more chance of helping others get a little bit better!
Best,
Rob

Lt. Cdr. Roberta O'Brien on Navigating Challenges & Focusing on The Crocodiles - EP045 Nov 26, 2017

Show notes

In this episode, I go on location to meet with Lt. Cdr. Roberta O’Brien at the National Maritime College of Ireland. Roberta has made Irish Naval History a few times in her career, so far! She became the first female to join the Irish Navy when becoming a cadet in 1995. She went on to become the first female Lt Commander to take charge of the LÉ Aisling a ship in 2008. And that’s just a couple of the firsts that we talk about during the very interesting and enjoyable conversation we had back in October.
Another first for Roberta was when she played hurling with the boys’ team when she was in school. She learned a lot these skills from her brother and she took a great interest in the game, along with Tennis at a young age.
Growing up Roberta was big into sports but she always enjoyed studying so PE teaching was an early aim. It wasn’t until she was in Fifth year before a spark was ignited in the Navy when she heard a Captain of a Ship give a talk. From here, Roberta started to set her sights on joining the Navy. She always wanted to be on the operations side of the ship instead of being an engineer so she could ultimately take command of a ship.
Currently, Lt. Cdr. O’Brien is the Officer In Charge of Training School responsible for ensuring 43 potential and young officers are fully trained and equipped prior to taking up their first sea-going appointment.
Here is a view into what we discuss during this fascinating show:
•Learnings from a tough three months during cadet training school
•How the environment changed in the Navy from Roberta started
•Interpersonal Skills training that helped with EQ, Listening and Awareness
•Leadership, Management, and Marketing Training
•Psychology and Confirmation Bias
•Challenges in the first couple of years of training and some relationship challenges
•The Role of Mentors and Coaches during the initial years rising up the ranks
•Spending three years in NUIG studying Science
•Planning & Plotting out a path to the goal of commanding a ship
•Getting the opportunity, ahead of her time, to take command of the LÉ Aisling in 2008
•Some Key Decisions Made during the Command
•Life After Command – Finding new challenges, goals, and responsibilities to reset focus
•How Training & Learnings all come together during more recent roles in the service
•A Typical Day Now in the Current Role as Officer of Training of Cadets.
•A Deep Dive into the 1% Tips that Roberta Shares:
oSetting Goals, working on tasks, and prioritizing on The Nearest ‘Crocodiles’
oBeing a Night Owl to get Work Done
oHow to develop and remain focus and present – touching on Mindfulness
oJournaling and Keeping a Diary
oInbox Management
oSleep Patterns especially on ship time
oDealing with Fear of Failure
oIntuition and Decision Making – recalling some instances from the command on the ship
oCollaboration
oSuccess and its meaning
oAdvice – Given or Gives out!
oOne Person You’d Bring to a Dinner
I hope you enjoy the episode. Be sure to like, share, and give me some feedback!
Thanks,
Rob

Andrew Montague on the Dublin Bike Scheme, Lord Mayor 24x7, and Career Next Steps! EP044 Nov 18, 2017

Show notes

In this Episode, I interview Andrew Montague.
Andrew is an Irish Labour Party politician and member of Dublin City Council. He is a former Lord Mayor of Dublin. He proposed the Dublin Bike Scheme in 2004 which was launched in 2009 and credited as one of the most successful public bike schemes in Europe.
During our hour+ long conversation, I learn a lot about what drives and motivates Andrew Andrew is the first politician on the show and it was a great treat to talk with him. You will very clearly see how much of a genuine, humble and warm guy Andrew is and I’m sure you’ll enjoy his story. What really struck me from the conversation was the real palpable reward that Andrew gets from his work in politics as he’s working on issues that are facing all of us. Andrew talks about launching his campaign to run in the next general election in October and discusses the official launch and working toward this goals and objectives with Social Welfare, Crime, Housing just to name three.
Some of the topics we covered were:
•Andrew growing up and having a huge interest in the News. With both his parent from Ulster, Andrew developed a keen interest in the Northern Ireland Troubles and talks about his interest in in the SDLP in those days with the likes of Austin Curry and John Hume at the forefront.
•Specifically getting into Politics with his brother in the 80s. But didn’t join the party until 2002 realising it was time to get involved.
•Talking to people canvassing and being willing to listen to the public. Successful Politicians have the listening skill.
•In 2004, Andrew was successful in his first campaign.
•Submitted the idea of the Dublin Bike Scheme in 2004 and this became his major focus in the coming years. Learning from the successful schemes in Copenhagen and other European Cities. Overcoming oppositions from other parties in the early stages. Andrew learned a lot from this. Winning battles during this period helped gained credibility.
•Reflecting back on the importance of having a champion/mentor in politics in the early stages of his career.
•Using & Developing Influencing & Negotiating skills to get things done!
•Passion for reading, learning, identification of solutions to problems in housing and crime. Being always on the look-out to tackle problems.
•Feeling like an Entrepreneur taking ideas and running with them.
•The Lord Mayor of Dublin Appointment and the Experience and Learning during the year that Andrew was Lord Mayor. It was an amazing experience but it’s 24x7 for the Year.
•What a typical day in the life looks like in Andrew’s current role.
•Dealing with Frustrations in the role but having patience and focus is key.
•We then get into some of the regularly 1% Better Questions on:
oCore Values.
oMentors.
oChanging Behaviors.
oTime Management & Productivity – Approaches.
oListening to Podcast but also giving the brain time to be free of distractions.
oImportance of Exercise and Fitness to keep a healthy mind and body.
oSpeaking & Presentations – Preparation, Practice, and Delivery.
oFlow & Being in the moment for Andrew
oAdvice that stands out during the career
oSuccess and Andrews view of this and how it ties into work-life balance
oInterest in Weight-lifting and how Andrew started into this area citing the health and mental benefits.
•Book Recommendations:
oBook – Tom Gash – Criminals: The Truth about why people do Bad Things
oCal Newport – Deep Work
oThe Happiness Advantage – Shaun Achor
Connect with Andrew. Andrew is active on Twitter – you can follow him on @MayorMontague
I hope you enjoy the episode. If you did, please give the podcast a like, share, follow, retweet!
Thanks,
Rob

Niamh McCarthy on Skydiving, Olympic Medals & being just a bit Competitive! EP043 Nov 11, 2017

Show notes

In this episode, I talk with Niamh McCarthy. Niamh has collected Olympic and World Championship Silver medals over the last few years in the Discus in the Paralympic games.
During the conversation, she talks about how her life has changed since discovering a talent for the Discus.
The last few years have been a whirlwind for Niamh as you’ll hear and she’s setting sights on the future and the bar is high!
We discuss:
•Earliest Memory of painting rocks and being creative as young child
•Being part of a Skydiving group and attributing this to her maturity and growth in confidence
•Comparing the feeling of skydiving to the feeling of throwing a discus in competition
•Living in France between the ages of 9 to 16 and learning lots there
•Returning to Ireland and immersing herself in the Leaving Cert years
•Learning the Piano growing up and finding it as a good outlet
•Constantly learning to adapt
•The story about how a chance meeting and conversation with a local solicitor made the connection with a talent scouting event in Dublin for paralytic events
•Being Competitive always and hugely determined
•Stepping up training 3-4 times per week to prove herself
•Winning the first medal in Qatar at the world championships
•Focusing on training & going outside the comfort zone to achieve things
•Breaking Personal Bests
•Controlling & Staying Level headed in competition
•The Experience and indescribable feeling competing at the Olympic stadium in Rio
•Overcoming Injuries and Vertigo – going from not being a gym person to the Paralympic games
•Competing in London World Games, being overconfident and feeling stressed
•Acknowledging that the head and mental state let her down at the Worlds in London
•Reaching goals and meeting them – end the season on a PB getting over – 28:43 – the goal to get over 28 meters
•Adding the shot-put to expand her events to compete in
•Plans for Next Season with discuss goals for Tokyo
•Finish off in the last 20mins talking about a number of topics:
oFear & How Niamh approaches it – challenge herself
oWork-life balance
oOverthinking
oAdvice given and shared with others
oInfluencers and Admiration for other public figures
oA Passion for Medicine and How the Body words
oA view of what Success is to Niamh
If you’d like to learn more about Niamh, follow her on the Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook at the handle @NiamhMacDiscus
Hope you enjoyed listen. Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE, RATE & REVIEW the show on iTunes and of course tell EVERYONE you know about it!
Credit to Paul Brady (pdbrady123) for the great picture of Niamh. See more of his pictures on @Pbrady123 on Instagram.
Thank you so much,
Rob

SoloShow - 11 Productivity Practices to Get Stuff Done! - EP042 Nov 05, 2017

Show notes

So, I've decided to do another solo run in this episode and confront the imposter syndrome (it's a think & I touch on it in the show) full on by talking about 11 practices I apply, some every day, and some for the bigger picture, that helps me get stuff done! Some are obvious, some might be new ones you haven't heard before, but all take discipline.
From time to time I get asked how do I manage to do the day job, release a weekly podcast, blog every now and then, exercise, and keep a few other balls in the air. My first two answers are I'm not married and don't have kids. That means I might have a little more time to play with. However, I do like to think I make good use of the time I have. I hope you enjoy the listen.
Feel free to reach out to me via the socials or email if you have some hidden gems of your own that you'd like to share. I do have another few that I didn't include on this show, so could release these in another episode or on the blog post of this on this topic in the near future. I was keen to get this first 11 out in podcast form and see what the reaction was like.
Thanks so much for listening. I'd be so grateful if you subscribed to the podcast and left a rating/review if you like it on iTunes.
Rob

Halloween Special with Mike Huberty on the Paranormal, Uniqueness, & Finding the Right Path! EP041 Oct 28, 2017

Show notes

In this episode, I share a great conversation with Podcaster, Author, Entrepreneur, and Lead-singer from the Band Sunspot, Mike Huberty. He hosts a podcast called See You On The Other Side with his co-host Wendy Lynn Staats. He’s from Maddison, Wisconsin.
The area of Paranormal, Afterlife, UFOs, Ghosts and Conspiracy Theories are of interest to me and when I heard Mike's podcast, I reached out to see if he'd be willing to discuss his career and share some fun stories from his journey.
Full Show Details check out the episode page on www.robofthegreen.ie/episodes/ep41-mikehuberty
Thanks,
Rob

Micheál O’Mathúna on the Artist Way, Managing Stress & being your Authentic Self! EP040 Oct 21, 2017

Show notes

In Episode 40 of the Podcast, I talk with Micheál O’Mathúna.
Micheál is a Journalist, Facilitator, Coach and is also the founder of The Health Zone, an organisation set up to empower and educate people to be healthier, happier and more authentic in their lives. He conducts one-to-one coaching, group coaching and delivers transformative workshops in various areas of health and wellbeing.
One of Micheál’s missions is to inspire, empower and educate people on all matters of health and wellbeing. He has a commitment and a passion for a healthy world. His mission is to build community and to inspire conscious awareness, positive change, and transformation in people’s lives. A significant part of this purpose is to create meaningful connections among people and empower them to live a life of health, happiness, authenticity and realise their full potential.
During our conversation, we focus in on a number of topics that are of great interest to Micheál and he shares openly his own personal journey over the years and the learnings he's taken from each experience along the way. There is a focus on health (both physical and mental), how to discover your authentic self, and many more interesting pieces.
Some of these include:
•Starting out his show on UCC Radio over 3 years ago and then setting up his own radio show/podcast
•Early Memories & interests in psychology and health in his teenage years and being fascinated about how people ticked
•Working in Construction and Sales and being “Successful” but always sensing that something was missing, not being happy or fulfilled yet ignoring to address it
•Using the Artist Way & the Morning Pages – a way to listen to your inner and authentic voice
•Spending 6 months in India training as a Yoga Teacher and meditation
•Learning to be true to his inner voice and connecting with his heart
•Returning to Ireland and completing a Masters in Journalism allowing him to develop skills in media
•The Benefits of a 10 day Silent Meditation realising all unhappiness is the result of comparisons
•Working out our problems in our body instead of in our heads
•Finding contentment & happiness in his work now through delivering courses, writing, and running events
•Standout Guests from his interviews so far and learnings from each one – Sri Mooji and Marianne Williamson - https://marianne.com/
•Themes coming up from the guests interviewed around authenticity and being true to yourself
•Core Values: Time to reflect on where you spend your time and connecting this to your core values
•Stress Management and connecting authenticity with stress management
•Fear of not realising full potential and not being true to yourself
•Consciousness and Awareness being key to allowing change to happen!
•The Morning Pages Process and staying with the process and practice
•Writing a book, the process and learnings on this to-date
•Morning Routines with Morning Pages, Yoga, Meditation
•Habits – Changing a habit to spend less time on social media
•Finding a flow state and being present
•Questions on Advice, Mentors, Influences, Decision Making and Success
•Preparation and Practice for a TedTalk given earlier this year in Cork
Full show notes and how to connect with Micheál are on the Episode page on the site - www.robofthegreen.ie/episodes/ep40-michealomathuna
Please share, comment, retweet, follow, and spread the 1% Better word!
Thanks,
Rob

Colin O'Brady on Changing Mindsets, Overcoming Obstacles & Finding your Everest! EP039 Oct 16, 2017

Show notes

Hi all,
Welcome to another episode of the 1% Better Podcast.
I have the full show notes with all links to Colin on the episode page on my site here - www.robofthegreen.ie/episodes/ep39-colinobrady/
Thanks for listening,
Rob

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