Magnetic Authenticity Podcast with Jolynne Rydz

9: Finding the Extraordinary within Ordinary Moments with Beau Miles

• Jolynne Rydz • Season 1 • Episode 9

Share episode

Comments, questions? Let's connect!

Beau Miles, the captivating adventurer and storyteller, joins us for an inspiring conversation that challenges the norms of achievement and the fear of life's wasted moments. Beau's philosophy encourages us to find extraordinary value in ordinary experiences, and he shares with us his secrets to challenging the way we see our world and what we can create from what we already have.

Together with his business partner Mitch, Beau navigates the world of filmmaking with a unique approach that values fluidity over rigid scripting. As Beau shares tales from his adventurous projects, we explore how overcoming fear and assessing risks can teach valuable lessons both in life and business. From the seas to the screen, Beau's stories reveal the essence of human nature and offer a fresh perspective on embracing imperfection and authenticity in a world obsessed with perfectionism.

This episode invites you to discover the power of authenticity, the joy in imperfection, and the endless possibilities that unfold when we stay true to ourselves. Join us for an unforgettable journey into the creative mind of Beau Miles.

Checkout Beau's Work
https://www.youtube.com/@BeauMiles
https://beaumiles.com/
https://www.instagram.com/beauisms/

💖Love the podcast?💖
You can pay it forward by:

  • Rating and Reviewing wherever you listen
  • Sharing it with others!


Ready to level up your impact?

➡️Book a complimentary mini-strategy session and I'll help unpack one of your current challenges

➡️Join our Masterclass Waitlist and get practical tools to level up your impact


Let's connect!

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jolynne-rydz/

https://www.instagram.com/jolynnerydz/

https://www.facebook.com/brillianceinspired


I am a Confidence and Success Coach for leaders, Organisational Development Consultant and independent Leadership Circle Profile® Certified Practitioner. Information shared about this tool is courtesy of Leadership Circle®, all rights reserved. www.leadershipcircle.com

Jolynne Rydz:

I am so excited to announce our next guest on this episode because it's been about six months since I first had the idea of I would love to have this person on the podcast, to getting over some of my vulnerabilities, working out a way to connect with them and getting creative about how to do that.

Jolynne Rydz:

So, six months down the track, here we are, and I am so excited to welcome Beau Miles onto this podcast. And Beau Miles, for those of you that are unfamiliar with his work, is what I like to describe as ordinarily extraordinary. He's really relatable, he's funny and a master storyteller, and storytelling I I believe, is a vital leadership skill that we need to have for impact. Through his award-winning films and his latest book, the Backyard Adventurer. What I admire most about Beau and his work is that he gets his audience to look at the everyday of life in new and fascinating ways, and so much of leading in life is about getting people to think, see and do differently. So let's dive into today's episode. Welcome into the podcast, beau. I'm so excited to have you here.

Beau Miles:

I'm excited to be here because I've eaten your homemade licorice, Jolynne, and it was good and you came to my show. So I'm very loyal to people that have paid probably too much money to come see me at a show. So, thank you, it's good to be here, mate.

Jolynne Rydz:

It was really worthwhile and I'm so excited to have you here because for me, you are the walking embodiment of what magnetic authenticity is. You just show up as you and people just get drawn in and want to hear more about you. And I don't know if you know this, but the moment I first found out about you was when my husband was sitting on the couch watching YouTube and he said, hey, you should watch this guy. He runs and he's funny and I'm like, oh okay, what does he do? And his response was he just does stuff. And I think that's kind of the crux of what you do and it's so fascinating because I feel like we're living in this world where there's so much conditioning to do more, to be more, to achieve more, and you're sort of opening this perspective where we can do really fascinating things with less or with what other people don't want, and we can turn this ordinary into useful. So I'm really curious, beau, to find out where did this perspective on life come from?

Beau Miles:

Well, it's a good setup in that? I'm not sure I'm. In fact, I think I'm the most ambitious I've ever been right. So it's just the packaging that I've put that ambition the most ambitious I've ever been right. So it's just the packaging that I've put that ambition because, fundamentally, I want the most use out of my time and so I want to be able to action things and turn them around, turn around an idea in the quickest possible format with the most amount of impact, and that's the most amount of impact for me, for the people that might be watching, for my family, for my body, for my health, for the dirt that I live on. I just basically, I want to try and maximize my next 40 or 50 years and I want to put my ambition across that, because for the first 20 years of adulthood I was a bit flippant, like most 20-year-olds, olds and maybe 30 year olds. You're getting here, you're just sort of whittling away and you're doing an okay job at things and you're making advancements in your own kind of world of whatever they might be. So I'm I'm fundamentally and this is a flaw, this is my main flaw I'm fundamentally petrified of death and not being here to do stuff right. So your husband's kind of right.

Beau Miles:

I just do stuff because I don't want to be not busy and I see great wealth in that.

Beau Miles:

You know, I get stick all the time from people saying or from people saying oh Beau, you've got to chill out, mate, you've got to smell the roses a bit more. But I kind of call bullshit on that, in that I'd rather smell the roses whilst running up a road. You know, because I'm doing two things and, look, to be honest, I tend to rest well, but I rest best when I know I'm full for the day and I just love that. I love going to bed tired, that I'm tired from using my body and my brain, and so that's all I'm doing. So the identity crisis in that and I don't mean to make too long of this question, but the identity crisis in that when you just do stuff, sometimes you water yourself down so much that your identity lacks identity, and so that's kind of where I'm at at the moment, because I'm a bit of a jack of all trades and I never really thought of myself as that and I've become it.

Jolynne Rydz:

Yeah, that's a fascinating answer and there's so much in that answer that I'd love to unpack, and the first one is impact. I think that's incredible that you're so focused on impact and in so many different areas. Do you define, like, what you want to impact in that message that you want to have, or does it kind of just come to you in the spur of the moment?

Beau Miles:

Jelen. I think that maybe it's a misuse of the word impact. That's maybe a hangover from my university days, when everything you know, every article you ever write or a class you teach, has to have impact. Some of the great philosophers and the great creatives out there you know the Rick Rubins of the world. They would say don't worry about impact, don't worry about the others, worry about yourself. And I believe that to an extent.

Beau Miles:

But I also really like well, I really respect the idea that other people are spending time on your content and so I don't want to waste their time. I do not, you know. Going back to that first question, if time is of the essence, then I don't want to waste people's time, nor my time. So the best use of my time, I think, hopes to be the best use of other people's time. So I'm always thinking of my audience and what other people are taking from it, and that might not just be other people. That might be okay. How do I make this best? How do I plant out this chunk of forest that's not just bloody pine trees and things that aren't supposed to be here? Let's put things that are supposed to be here. So there's kind of multiple ways of thinking of it, but fundamentally, impact is doing things thoughtfully, with urgency, and that you enjoy, but you think others might as well, and I think that's just a nice little formula to start with.

Jolynne Rydz:

Yeah, I love that. It's so simple.

Beau Miles:

Simple, yet complex. Yeah, I mean, we're only ever good at things when they're in their most simple form, but it often takes us years to figure that out too, you know.

Jolynne Rydz:

Yeah, and a nice segue into figuring it out. Can I read a section of your book? Is that okay with you?

Beau Miles:

Sure, there's some shoddy sections in there, mate, so as long as it's okay.

Jolynne Rydz:

Yes.

Beau Miles:

Yeah, go for it so this book is incredible.

Jolynne Rydz:

It's called the Backyard Adventurer and highly recommend it to anyone because you just pick it up and it's so you on a page. So the quote I wanted to pull out was it starts with I was, in fact, on the comfortable side of an identity crisis, having come to terms with the fact that I was not the man I thought I was. Such a breakthrough in thinking is to acknowledge that I have a uniqueness born of influences. And then you go on to list to some of those influences which I won't share here, because maybe that's some of the shady stuff, I don't know, but I think I wanted to read that out because I feel like a lot of people are grappling with this who am I versus who should I be and I'm curious to know what is it that brought you to that moment where you were okay to step outside of the shoulds and just show up as you?

Beau Miles:

It was through a process of filmmaking actually, that for the first five or ten years of carrying a camera around doing things trying to be a hero, that I was trying to shoot things more in the camp of what I thought other people liked to see heroic, incredible, quite outstanding things that were difficult, they were long range and that they were skillful.

Beau Miles:

You know the kind of thing that people think of as almost like a Red Bull athlete has a baby with an explorer from yesteryear you know, and they do these amazing long feats, but with kind of, you know, no risk aversion, and so I kind of did that stuff for a bunch of years and it just didn't work. It was crap. You know, you're only ever shooting a third of the time because they're the only times you're doing something that's a bit edgy, and the rest of the time you're just living and you're just trying to make way and you're getting forward and you're, you know, you're brushing your teeth and you're tying your shoelaces, and you're cooking and you're, and you're, you know, packing your bag. Fundamentally, I started to realize that all that stuff is is what everyone does. Everyone packs their bags and goes forward and brushes their teeth and ties their shoelaces. So why not make stories out of all of the in-between as well as all of the really cool stuff?

Beau Miles:

Yeah, and so when you, when I did that and that's what my YouTube channel is now trying to do things that are almost every day or could be every day it was a bit of a hurrah moment, because you don't have to go and, bloody, climb Everest or cross the Pacific anymore and you can do difficult things in different ways that are a bit more relatable and you're taking yourself a little less seriously too. I found myself in a genre of adventure, right, and adventure is kind of what a wanky thing to write on your business card. I'm an adventurer, you know Jesus. A mother of two or a dad of three or whatever, that's an adventure. That's way harder than climbing frickin' Everest.

Beau Miles:

And so as a parent of two now, yeah, so come on, get over yourself, adventurers. You're just a bloody sport person that wants to go and do cool stuff, you know. So, yeah, I took a back step from the thing that I found myself in and thought how do I kind of redefine it? And that's where I find myself.

Jolynne Rydz:

Yeah, I love that in terms of just just stepping back and reviewing, because I think a lot of people just keep going forward and they don't stop to rethink what is it I'm really doing? And there's so many people out there doing the big adventure thing, so it's beautiful to see the everyday broken down into that nuance. And one of the things that fascinates me as I watch your work is how do you tell such elaborate stories Like it's like we're dipping into your mind in that moment and I'm curious about how you bring that into your work.

Beau Miles:

Look I'm.

Beau Miles:

I'm sometimes easy to work with, but sometimes I'm let's say, most of the time I'm difficult to work with too.

Beau Miles:

You know, as a solo filmmaker, I think I can just go on my merry way, but I do it in collaboration. Now, and and my main, my main collaborator is Mitch. Him and I share the business and so what what I tend to do is come up with an idea and then I go and I live this idea and it's got to be a good enough idea for me to go shoot it, and many don't make the the, the time of day where I actually go off and shoot it. So I go off and shoot it, but for the most part, the story comes in the aftermath with what took place and what is missing, and and the great thing about that is that I can then value add and layer up something that was an okay or a good idea, and then I make it better and every film has to be made better from Ryan, whereas something like you know Hollywood, they they have such a rigid script and, yes, they will tweak and make changes, but they very rarely do the bulk of the changes in post.

Beau Miles:

They make the bulk of the changes in the writing process. So by the time they shoot, they shoot something and they're pretty wedded to that. They can't really go too far from what they've shot. I try and go as far from what I've shot as possible, which is a pain in the ass, but it makes the story more real of what took place. Because, you know, think of when they pick all their actors and they go out and they make this story, those actors have got to make all of the decisions that the writers have made, decisions about years ago, and so there's always that lost in translation, whereas me, as a solo bloke, far more selfish with my storytelling, I can really massage the message in the aftermath.

Beau Miles:

Um, I'm making a film at the moment about worldview. Where does my worldview come from, or where did it? And I went back to a place that I went as a 15 year old kid and I think that's kind of where the genesis was, or a real great moment or a week and I'm trying to unpick my life between now and then and it was fascinating. But you know that's a juggernaut of a project, potentially or streamline it and just pick a few themes that you think you know. So you have to be quite disciplined in your aftermath as well.

Jolynne Rydz:

Yeah, definitely, and I think a lot of what you just shared applies in the business world as well, in terms of people come up with these big plans and strategies and then they can spend so much time in that that when they get into the real life bringing it to life, they're a bit stuck rather than adapting in the moment.

Beau Miles:

Yeah, the whole five-year thing, you know, I think that's kind of mythical and I get it too, while people have a five-year thing.

Beau Miles:

But as a creative person, I detest that idea. I'm not really sure, like 2025 is about the maximum bandwidth I'd put on any ambition I have. I've just got to think, because there's so many opportunities and different ways of thinking and different upheavals will happen in the next 14 months and I've got to trust that because it's always happened. So, yeah, me thinking beyond 2025 is, in some respects, bonkers, you know, and when a business does that, I think, gee, that's amazing.

Jolynne Rydz:

And when a business does that, I think, gee, that's amazing. Yeah Well, I love that. I love bringing it into this nearer focus where you can still have massive impact, and that's what you've been focusing on, as you explained earlier. I am curious you mentioned earlier that you've got this fear of death and yet often in a lot of your work, I see you in these situations that people would like the average person might not want to walk into, like when you find yourself in the middle of a deeply polluted river with rubbish everywhere. In my head as I watch that, I'm like what if you step on something that's rusty and you get tetanus? And all of these things run through my head. Do you ever find yourself in these shoots in a moment where you're panicking or where you're regretting where you've gone?

Beau Miles:

Not in the sense that you're probably alluding to. I don't find myself in the situation and think, oh gee, I should probably overlay it with a bit more occ. Health and safety. Look, I'm not a man of statistics as such. I live in the subjective world more than the objective world. But I do probably consider that a lot of things we fear are irrational, real fears Swimming at the beach and being taken by a shark, for example and yet that is what most people talk to me about sea kayaking or whatever.

Beau Miles:

As a sea kayaker, you're going to get killed by the wind or a human more than you are a shark and waves and the tentacles of a jellyfish or sunburn. You know there's so much that's going to kill you in a sea kayak more than a shark, and yet that's what we think about. So when I went down Cooks River, for example, and there's stuff that could poke and prod me and make me sick and hepatitis in every second vial, I suppose it's very relevant, but the genuine natures of me getting pinged by those things are pretty high, you know. One in a thousand, one in 10,000, one in a million. I don't know what that'd be, but certainly not on my radar as much as wearing a good hat and making sure I drink enough on my radar, as much as wearing a good hat and making sure I drink enough. So you know, I'm very realistic about what's going to do me genuine harm and what is something that is probably less likely.

Jolynne Rydz:

Yeah, and just bringing it back to the real basics yeah, yeah, yeah, Nice nice, I can tell you a little story on that. I remember I was sea kayaking.

Beau Miles:

I was guiding out of a boat shed once, and so I'm there doing our roundup and we're about to go out to sea and we're all really safe. We've got our buoyancy vests on and we're all in and they're perfectly sized and they know how to use their kayaks and their gear is beautiful and they've got, you know, all these sorts of long sleeve tops on and they've got zinc across their nose and big hats right. And this guy comes in and he's a safety officer of some kind. He was the Commodore of the club actually, and you know, him and I were instantly different kind of people and he gives me the Victorian boating guide for safety and it's this big thing of 80 pages, yeah, and on the front cover is a kayaker, on the front page is a kayaker in a pfd without any sun protection. So no, no, long sleeve top, no hat. And then I read 80 pages of how that person should be safe yeah and it is.

Beau Miles:

And you know I had to give all of these booklets out to my students before we're allowed to leave for the coast and I said one I don't want your booklets because they're going to end up in their backpack sod and be landfill or we don't want these. I'm more of an expert on sea kayaking and I never said all these things. I was very whatever. But I was so shocked that the bloody safety manual on the front cover had someone out there in the blazing Australian sun when we have the highest cancer rate for melanoma in the world. And yet you're talking about. You know, go left of the bloody green pontoon over there. That's not going to kill them. The sun is. You know, I was wild about it as a, as a ginger, I was wild about it. But I think it's a great example of where real and perceived risks are and how we should question them at all times.

Jolynne Rydz:

Yeah, I love that perspective, questioning what's real and what's perceived so important.

Jolynne Rydz:

One of the most recent pieces of your work that I watched was the one where you're out in the middle of this beautiful forest and someone's made a poor choice to dump a lot of rubbish there.

Jolynne Rydz:

Made a poor choice to dump a lot of rubbish there and in organizations I see a lot of people making at times, as people do in broader life make poor choices, and I see a lot of people fearing letting go and holding onto perfection, and whether that's for themselves or whether that's the system they're in, requires perfection to be adding value. And when I watched this piece of yours where someone had made a poor choice, they dumped some rubbish in a beautiful forest and then you've come and looked at this pile and seen a picnic table in there somehow, and so you're sitting there, got your tools out, just making a picnic table in the middle of a road, in a forest, and I'm just curious to know your perspective If more people were willing to make something meaningful out of other people's poor choices or just give things a go and let go of that perfectionism, what impact do you think that would have on our society?

Beau Miles:

I don't know. Yeah, I mean, look at the US election, and I don't mean to be political at all, but I think people are driven. You know they voted based on, in many respects, fear or a form of fear, I suppose, rightly or wrongly. I think, yeah, and the reason I'm here talking to you today too, you're a great thinker, you know. You've put things into, you've got a good way about you in terms of how you structure your thinking and your philosophies.

Beau Miles:

I, you know, even someone having a poor choice that's a good way of putting it they probably couldn't afford the tip fees for that particular idea and that, and so I was really reluctant to just unload on them with, you know, because half of me is violently angry that someone would dump a big trailer load of crap in the bush. But then I also realized that they've probably never had the opportunities I've had either, um, and they've probably done it bloody way tougher. And they're pissed off with their shire, as am I for lots of reasons, that is, their governance. And so, you know, there was a little bit of, I suppose, animosity in me for the people that dumped that stuff, but for the most part I kind of get it too in this horrid kind of way.

Beau Miles:

I would never do it, but I kind of get it. So I essentially just try and put myself in the feet of others more I essentially just try and put myself in the feet of others more. I'm quite sympathetic to assholes in some respects because they've probably had a shit childhood, you know, and that breaks my heart too when I think of little. You know. You see a little tough kid at five or six years old. They're bloody tough as nails because they probably just haven't been loved right and they're going to make some shit decisions probably in the next 10 years because they're just trying to survive yeah so.

Beau Miles:

So I hope to think I'm quite sympathetic to that, uh, because I know I've been really lucky, right. So yeah, I'm not. I've wavered so far from your question, but you triggered a thing there that um was quite meaningful and that, yeah, people dump rubbish for many reasons and they're not good reasons, but they're complex.

Jolynne Rydz:

Yeah, and I love the wavering you've taken it, because I think it's something that we deal with in the world is these polarities between you? Know you might be really angry, but you also kind of have some compassion for someone's situation and then realizing your own privilege in all of that. There's so much complexity in our world.

Beau Miles:

What do you think?

Jolynne Rydz:

if I bring it back to the willingness to give things a go, letting go of perfectionism and compassion. Really, what do you think leaders in business and community could learn from this?

Beau Miles:

the word perfect is a really good, uh is a really good word to unpack, because genius humans want to know everything to an objectifiable truth. And and I have trouble with that too, because we it changes so much. Look look at the, look at diet. Right, and I'll come back to your, your business and politics thing in a minute. For perfection, sure, um, think of how much the science behind food continues to change and how much we, we, we seem to or or say we know about what we should eat and what we shouldn't eat. You know, years ago it was don't touch butter or fat, and now it's about salt and plastics and it's you know it constantly shifts, and how many grams of protein we're having as opposed to. You know, the science of the molecular thing that we put in our mouth just keeps changing and the truth of food keeps changing. And so what is perfection? Perfection, you know.

Beau Miles:

I did a PhD in sea kayaking and one of the components of that was looking at what the sea kayak is and this craft, what makes a sea kayak a sea kayak? And the sea kayak is one of the oldest vessels in the world it's about 4 000 years old and it really it looks very similar to what it has for thousands of years now. It's a bit like the bicycle. The bicycle keeps changing its materials, but it looks like a bike. You know has a triangle between two wheels. So it's reached this kind of design perfection In many respects.

Beau Miles:

There's kind of few things that can say that, that it reaches this zenith where you can keep tinkering on its materials, but fundamentally the design's in. No doubt it will change, no doubt you can ride a bike in thin air one of these days and they'll get rid of the triangle in the middle. And you know it will continue to evolve. And I suppose that's the point. Perfection is probably a total bloody myth, and so I'm a I'm a real um exponent of the 80 20 kind of thing. You know.

Beau Miles:

Get, get pretty close yeah and and and be close, be a perfectionist on the things that matter, but you've got to learn to let go on the on the stuff around the edges you know. So, yeah, you get your stuff, that you want 100%, right, sure, or what you think is 100, but the rest can't be that, because you'll just be bogged down in it for bloody ever.

Jolynne Rydz:

Yeah.

Beau Miles:

So that's kind of how I run things these days In terms of how a government would run that. Oh geez, bureaucracy runs the other kind of way they want to. You know, 100 people are put in the same email train for something that really should never be put across. 100 people One person can make that bloody decision and just move on. So I think there's a huge amount of time, wastage and taxpayer dollars get churned up in just over-communication because we're nervous now that enough people aren't put into the conversation.

Jolynne Rydz:

Yeah, again coming back to that fear.

Beau Miles:

Yeah.

Jolynne Rydz:

Yeah, wasting time.

Beau Miles:

Yeah, there's probably only two things that are going to come out today, and that's probably the main one, yeah.

Jolynne Rydz:

Is there a question that you wish someone would ask you?

Beau Miles:

Look, there's some sort of as a student of Freudian thinking in a sense, that I think we're all animals. You know, I think we often don't get right down to the basics of animalistic thinking. I play on the idea, for example, that I'm unhygienic and that's complete bullshit. I just don't think I am Me showering two days a week. People are shocked. They're shocked that I shower two days a week and I think, well, you know what, it's just bullshit to think that I'm not unhygienic for showering, so much less. But in fact I think it's.

Beau Miles:

You know, I'm more attracted to my wife the more she goes and sweats and does stuff, you know, and, and and this animal, you know, she becomes more attractive to me the more hot and sweaty and dirty she becomes physically. And I and I think we've kind of paired all this shit back because of we think we need to be clean and neat and smell like chanel number five and really um, um, you know, these kind of things, I think, dictate a lot of our world around us and yet we kind of we go through the motions of you know today I kinds of things, I think, dictate a lot of our world, around us, and yet we kind of we go through the motions of.

Beau Miles:

you know, today I'm going to a wedding and the people inside the house that I'm looking at they're going to be preening themselves for six or eight hours and I will take six minutes to get ready for this bloody wedding. You know, I just think. I just think what a waste of time and yet. And yet it's not about the hygiene and the looking good, it's about the. They're all having a ball doing it and that's fantastic right.

Beau Miles:

But in some respects it's having a ball and being social over something I just don't believe in. And then part of me just thinks who gives a shit if they want to look so fantastic, if they're having a wonderful social interaction? Stand down, vote that. You know you don't have to be righteous about that. Just do your five minute thing yourself and move on. But coming back to time, I just think, yeah, we, yeah, yeah that that may be. I maybe have just made the weirdest question answer I've ever answered when I talked about being attracted to my wife when she's really sweaty, to the waste of time at weddings.

Jolynne Rydz:

I love it. And as you were talking, this memory came to me. When I was in primary school, I had a diary and it had stickers in it, and on the sticker sheet there were a whole page Well, not a whole page, actually, I think there was only a few but the sticker said Bath Day and I was like, oh, do people live in a world where they don't shower every day? That was my first exposure to it, so I just thought that was fascinating. That was common enough that it's in a diary, and then people would sticker in Bath Day.

Beau Miles:

Oh, totally yeah, just make sure it's in the calendar. I worked at a summer camp for 10 years, yeah, and on Wednesday we had to do shower skits to remind the boys to go to the shower, cause they don't. They go on school camp, they're not going to go for a shower, and I totally think it's so awesome, these boys, they don't give a shit about show and they want to do stuff, and I think hallelujah, you know. So every Wednesday I would get the guitar out and say you've got to shower, you've got to take a shower, otherwise your parents aren't going to send you here next year.

Jolynne Rydz:

I love how it's a skit too, otherwise it won't sink in. Oh, you've got to entertain it.

Beau Miles:

Yeah, that's right.

Jolynne Rydz:

So, before I bring us into our wrap-up questions, there's one question I'd like to ask you, which is, ultimately, with the work that you're putting out into the world.

Beau Miles:

So your films, your books and all the other stuff that you do, what's the ultimate? What do you want people to walk away with as they experience your work? Look, I suppose you know trusting people to be. I really trust people's intelligence if they trust their own intelligence. You know you've got to really a bit like everyone saying how hard a marathon is. You know how bloody easy a marathon is. You could run one tomorrow. You've just got to plug away. You know it's about speed.

Beau Miles:

I really trust people to make their own connections between an idea or a story and their own life. I don't have to talk in metaphors as much, so I just I hope people walk away with just oh yeah, that's just a story. He just told me a story, but my life has comparable things and I don't have to tell them that I never want to. Ever want to be righteous, and I get that a bit. You know that latest film you're talking about making the picnic table out of rubbish. There's the odd comment that says oh, beau, you jerk, you bloody righteous prick. You know you're trying to make yourself look holier than thou and I think they've got it wrong. I don't think that's why I made that story at all, but there is something in it. You know, why show something of those sorts of things?

Beau Miles:

I suppose I'm making films and writing books because it's a job and I like telling stories and I think it does have currency for being humans. It's really what sets us apart. We are, we're we're storytelling animals and there's very few storytelling animals out there as far as we can gather. So it's a, it's a real human thing that is special. You know, yes, think of our science and our and our curiosity. Other animals have tools and curiosity to some degree as well, whereas the storytelling thing and this whole idea of sitting down and watching something or reading something, you know that sets us apart. So, okay, that's a job for me. You know I'm happy to do that.

Jolynne Rydz:

I love that and I've never actually heard anyone say that that's so human, so that's a great perspective. Thank you so much. And I completely agree. Storytelling is so powerful and something you do incredibly well, so I'd love to bring us into our seven swift questions. So these are quick answers, first thing that comes to your head. Don't need to overthink.

Beau Miles:

Fun. This could be dangerous. This is a little dynamite section.

Jolynne Rydz:

Yeah, so they're easy questions.

Beau Miles:

So the first one is in your view. What are three words that describe an ideal leader? Humility.

Jolynne Rydz:

Humility.

Beau Miles:

Curiosity and decisiveness.

Jolynne Rydz:

Yeah, I love it Number two, I had to think about those. Okay, I love it Number two, I had to think about those.

Beau Miles:

Okay, yes, shut up, let's go Good.

Jolynne Rydz:

Look, I could talk to you all day, but I know other people won't want to listen to you all day. I'm going to dig myself in a hole. I'll stop talking. So number two fill in the blank. Magnetic authenticity is.

Beau Miles:

Given by someone else, I can't call myself authentic, you can.

Jolynne Rydz:

Yes.

Beau Miles:

I said that in a keynote this week and I thought oh, that's true, you can't call yourself authentic. I think it's bullshit.

Jolynne Rydz:

Yeah, love it. Nice Number three. When you notice yourself trying to fit in, what is the first thing you do? Question it yeah, number four. What song gets you really pumped?

Beau Miles:

I think it's called mr magpie by radiohead. It's full-on, or it might be separator by radio head. They're such think tanks, they're bloody full-on. Tom york's, you know he's full-on.

Jolynne Rydz:

So yeah, radio head, radio head, songs, all right, I have to go listen to those two. I don't know them. Uh, so number five what's the most daring thing you've ever done?

Beau Miles:

when I first lost sight of land in a kayak by myself, where you are in a big old ocean and you cannot see land. The accountability was fantastic and, yeah, I liked it.

Jolynne Rydz:

There's something about being in the middle of the ocean which makes you feel small, which I actually really like. You're just like I'm tiny right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, there's nothing, I actually really like.

Beau Miles:

You're just like I'm tiny right now. Yeah, yeah.

Jolynne Rydz:

Yeah.

Beau Miles:

There's nothing like it yeah.

Jolynne Rydz:

Thanks for sharing. So number six do you have a favorite quote or mantra that you live by?

Beau Miles:

There's so many brilliant quotes, let's just go with monkey.

Jolynne Rydz:

See, monkey, do Just get busy my best parenting is just do stuff, talk less, do more. Yeah, love it as we talk on the podcast. Yeah, that's right.

Beau Miles:

Um, so you can listen to this whilst doing cool. That's why test cricket's so good, for five days, you can listen to the cricket whilst painting your house. That that's fantastic. What an excellent sport and an excellent use of your time.

Jolynne Rydz:

Maybe I'll get you hooked on podcasts, because you said you don't listen to them. But yes, I listen to podcasts while I'm doing things because I can absorb things while I'm doing. It's brilliant. So final question for you is what's one small thing that brings you incredible joy?

Beau Miles:

I really like breakfast with my girls. So you know the morning, that morning, half an hour, and it's often horrible in terms of it's manic or one kid's sick or whatever, but just that loveliness of sharing breakfast together because we're all hungry, we've all got this potential of the day and I love morning light. You know, it's just. I love the half an hour of whenever I travel. I've just done a big stint overseas, and big for me is a couple of weeks nowadays, but that's two weeks not seeing any of my family being really immersive in a project, and the thing I miss the most is breakfast with the girls and so, yeah, that's the best part of my day.

Jolynne Rydz:

That's beautiful and thank you so much for bringing us into your world of what you're creating, who you are and the incredible thoughts that you have that run through your work and this conversation today. It's been fantastic having you here. Where can people connect with you if they want to learn more about what you do?

Beau Miles:

uh, youtube's probably the best. Uh, Beau Miles, on youtube. I've got uh 80 or 90 films up there and, um, yeah, there's a film every sort of 20, 20 days at the moment that I'm trying to ratchet down to 14. So, yeah, Beau Miles, on youtube. Otherwise, my website is beaumiles. com Beauisms on Instagram. They're all a bit of fun. So, yeah, there's enough fodder coming out occasionally, but not too much to make you sick of me. So that's kind of the aim.

Jolynne Rydz:

Good balance to have. Well, thank you so much once again, and I look forward to seeing more of what comes out of this wonderful brain of yours.

Beau Miles:

Thanks, Jolynne, it's been great. And thank you for your persistence and generosity too, with making stuff for me and sending me things and being here so good on you.

Jolynne Rydz:

You're making me sound like a stalker

Beau Miles:

, that's a good thing, but you were a very generous stalker you gave me licorice and generous with your time and creativity too, sending me a great proposal. It's awesome.

Jolynne Rydz:

Cool. Thank you so much and have a wonderful day.

Beau Miles:

Enjoy the wedding. Bye, thanks, see you Bye.

Jolynne Rydz:

I trust that you enjoyed today's episode and there were so many golden moments in there. And there were so many golden moments in there and for me some of the key points that stood out was the ability to really trust that you can be in the moment and bring that long-term view really into the short term, because so much can change that if we spend too much time planning far out, we're spending time on scenarios that may never eventuate. So really recognizing when that long-term planning is becoming more of a security blanket than a value add and being able to flex there. Another key point I took away from today was the irrational, real fears that we all have, fears that are real, but it's about questioning what's real and what's perceived and what are the likelihoods of those fears actually turning into reality and really having a balanced approach at how we look at those fears and whether it stops us and whether it should stop us from doing what we're doing. And the final point I wanted to bring to people's attention is the storytelling.

Jolynne Rydz:

Please do go and check out Beau's work because it is incredible. He's a master storyteller and I loved what Beau said about it being an incredibly human trait that we have to tell stories because, I completely agree, stories are key for making sense of the world, for bringing meaning to things, to understanding our purpose, to connect with each other and really to be memorable in what we do and what we share. So I trust that this episode has been memorable for you. I would love to know. So reach out and connect with me and let me know what you think. And remember to take a look at Beau's incredible work.

People on this episode