In EP 3630 of The Strong Life Project, Shaun O'Gorman breaks down a truth most people avoid because it removes their excuses: your standards decide your life.

Not your intentions. Not your potential. Not what you "know" you should do. Your standards. The behaviours you tolerate, repeat, and call normal.

This episode is a straight, practical look at how standards quietly shape everything: your health, your confidence, your relationships, your career, your bank account, and the way you feel when you wake up each day. Shaun explains why motivation is unreliable, willpower is overrated, and standards are the real system that keeps you on track when life gets hard or messy.

You'll hear why people get stuck in cycles of overthinking, self-sabotage, and "starting again Monday" and how to interrupt that pattern by raising one standard at a time. Not through perfection, not through hype, and not through waiting to feel ready, but by getting clear on what you do and do not accept in your own life.

Shaun also challenges the hidden standard that causes most damage: the standard you set for how you speak to yourself. If your internal story is harsh, hopeless, or constantly critical, you will keep living down to it, no matter how ambitious you are.

This episode gives you a simple way to audit your current standards and choose a stronger baseline. You'll walk away with clear questions to ask yourself, small commitments that actually stick, and a grounded reminder that self respect is built through repeated action, not big promises.

If you want better outcomes, stop negotiating with the life you say you want. Lift your standards. Then live like you mean it.

In EP 3629 of The Strong Life Project, Shaun O'Gorman tackles a deceptively simple question with big consequences: does small talk kill you, or are you using it to avoid the conversations that actually matter?

Most people stay busy and stay "fine" while their real life slowly erodes in the background. They talk about the weather, work, weekend plans, sport, and gossip, but they never say what they mean. They never ask for what they need. They never tell the truth about what hurts, what they want, or what they are tolerating. Over time, that costs you intimacy, respect, trust, and momentum.

This episode is not about becoming rude or intense. It is about being deliberate. Shaun breaks down how small talk becomes a pattern of emotional avoidance, social safety, and people pleasing, especially in high-pressure environments where you are trained to stay controlled. You will learn how to recognise when you are hiding in surface level conversation, how it shows up in relationships and leadership, and why your standards for communication directly shape the quality of your life.

You will also get practical tools you can use immediately. Simple upgrades to the questions you ask, how to steer conversations toward depth without making it awkward, and how to speak with honesty while still being calm and respectful. Whether you are building stronger relationships, leading a team, or trying to stop living on autopilot, this episode is a reminder that your life changes when your communication changes.

If you are sick of feeling disconnected, misunderstood, or stuck, start here. Stop performing. Start connecting. The cost of staying shallow is higher than you think.

EP 3628 asks a simple question with uncomfortable consequences: are you reacting to what is happening, or to the meaning you've assigned to it?

"We see things as we are, not as they are" is a reminder that your nervous system, your history, your expectations, and your current stress level all colour the story you tell yourself. Two people can live the same moment and walk away with completely different "truths" because perception is never neutral.

In this episode, I break down how that distortion shows up in real life: reading disrespect into a neutral comment, assuming rejection when someone is quiet, treating uncertainty as danger, and making decisions from fear while calling it logic. When you do that long enough, you end up living in a world that feels hostile, unfair, and exhausting, even when it isn't.

Here's the practical move: before you react, separate facts from interpretation.

1. Write the facts in one sentence. Only what a camera would catch.

2. Write your interpretation in one sentence. The story you're running.

3. Ask: "What evidence would change my mind?" If the answer is "nothing," you're not being honest, you're being emotional.

4. Choose the response that matches the facts, not the story.

This isn't about being positive. It's about being accurate. Accuracy makes you calmer, more decisive, and harder to manipulate. It also stops you pouring energy into people who only take, because you'll finally see the pattern clearly instead of explaining it away.