Off The Lead

Kicking off 2026 with a superstar! With millions and millions of views and tens of thousands of adoring fans Caolan Ward is BY FAR my most famous guest {he'll love that intro! Hahahahahahahaha}.As is the norm, our conversation meanders between all sorts, from his professional goals as a social media influencer to more personal New Year resolutions and how he plans to keep himself accountable professionally and personally.It was great chatting to him and getting a better understanding of how the 'influencer economy' works.A great lad with a bright future it's been my pleasure working with him and wish him all the very best with his plans for 2026 and beyond, some of which at least are revealed in this epiosde. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I love the idea of people who have listened to my conversations {or that have just heard that I'm doing podcasts} and then deciding to reach out to me asking to come on. However, this practically never happens, ever.So bareing this in mind I was bowled over when Aidan text me explaining that he had a stammer and thought that it would be a great challenge for him to come on. What a legend!We all suffer some form of anxiety around speaking publicly and can only imagine that this is masssively ramped up when you have any kind of speech impediment. Aidan on the other hand had the balls to bite the bullet and I'm delighted he did.We talk about how and when his stammer is triggered, cover some of the tricks he developed along the way to deal with it and have a genuine conversation about how he has sought help and how he has to a large degree overcome it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Endurance athlete Graham Macken joins me again to walk us through his most recent epic challange, a 5,000km coast to coast 'Race Across America' or Raam for short, otherwise known as the toughest race in the world.We talk death, psychedelics, near death experiences, depression, mortality, Rhabdomyolosis, sleeping in dodgey motels and a whole lot more.We also cover his hallucinations during the race and what they might mean and also delve into the realitites of cycling non stop from coast to coast, from how he was burning 22,000 calories a day {not a misprint} to forgetting who and where he was and what he was doing.In short, Graham is a bonifide mad bastard. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Instead of doing a 'season in review' episode I decided to have a think about what's next and do what I can to exorcise some ideas that have been rattling around the auld head.I'm also completely starved of conversation around the types of topics that I tend to talk about on the solos so if this is something you might be interested in (for publication or otherwise) let me know on imoffthelead@gmail.com It's been emotional! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The thumbnail that accompanies this episode (@offtheleadofficial on Instagram) is a graph depicting someone's weight loss. I use this graph as an analogy for visualisations generally.I also speak of the importance of volume when it comes to creative output.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I finally added a girl to my list of boyfriends!'Human centric' viewpoints, the autistic spectrum, real world applications, jiu jitsu, taeqwondo, sharks, bears and antidepressants, just your usual 15 or so minutes of madness. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I begin by explaining how a sneeze just happens and 'you' are just along for the ride as it takes place. Which reminds me of when I left a puddle of tears on the floor of Drogheda A&E. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today's episode is essentially an attempt to organise what's bubbling around the old noggin.I cover the physiological, psychological, behavioural, turmeric, placebo, attention, multitasking, consciousness, Pat Macnamara, Terence Mckenna, cultural, natural, spiritual, cortisol, hemispheric specialisation and William Shakespear. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Don't underestimate the extent to which we create our own realities, outside of objective facts. The stories we tell ourselves (and others) are of the utmost importance, how we frame our experiences is of the utmost importance, the 'labels' and language we use are of the utmost importance.I get into my social media use and reframe the trinity of 'Body, Mind and Soul' from the perspective of 'nourishment'. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

By viewing my current conundrum from a few different perspectives I feel like I've inched closer to knowing what my next steps are in relation to the whole Off The Lead 'thing' and by proximity if nothing else, my own next steps personally. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I open this episode with a quote from one of my boyfriends, a guy that's been hugely influential on my life, Jordan Peterson. The episode is essentially about defining your terms for success and managing your motivation to achieve said goals. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I start off by talking about visualisations and end up with somewhat of a dilemma. In some sense it's as though I'm tirelessly striving to become something but I haven't yet identified exactly what that 'something' is.Food for thought! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I give myself a bit of a pat on the head in this episode (something I'm not exactly prone to do) and appreciate the feeling of (to some small degree at least) that I might be on to something. I also flesh out a little more of Ian Mcgilchrists viewpoint that we have become 'left brain dominant' in our modern world. Or to use my own terminology, "soulless". See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is an episode whereby I try and outline the difficulty I have in determining which words to use in relation to 'the soul' and 'the mind'.I mention a landmark case that blew open our understanding of how the brain functions and how we can literally have 2 separate and independent consciousnessess. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This episode should probably come with the trigger warning of, "if you're black, autistic or German then brace yourself".Having endlessly used the words soul, ego, mind, spirit etc, what has come out of the wash of this episode is the idea that I should probably work towards concretising them and picking words that best describe what I'm talking about once and for all. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Much is made of the idea that we are products of our enviornment. This episode is an exploration of the idea that not only can you change your enviornment, but you can also create it.And in keeping with the idea of creating an enviornment, would anybody have any interest in a live version of an Off The Lead solo podcast? A live version of an Off The Lead conversation? Or perhaps just a meet and greet of people who are into this sort of thing? If so, do let me know by reaching out to me on Facebook, Instagram or via email mckeown.francis@gmail.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In a previous episode I feel as though I may have demoted the body to a container and this episode is an effort to clarify my thoughts on the roles of all 3 compoment parts of us, namely Mind Body and Soul. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Having spoken about how fame has been corrupted I now make the analogy that our politics have suffered the same fate. The principle has remained the same, those in power are serving those who put them there, but increasingly it's corporate interests that have put the politicians in place and therefore it's corporate interests that our politicians now serve. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I MISPOKE IN THIS EPISODE; I said that the way music effects us on an emotional level is a perversion of 'real' soulful experiences. I meant 'manufactured music'. The kind of music that is created by industry experts, unlike music that is created by genuine artists, which absolutely 'is' soulful and not in any way a perversion of anything.This episode is essentially about how 'industry heads' have hijacked our 'psychological machinery'.They've figured out what induces soulful experiences in us and have tailor made products to exploit our souls for profit, and at the expense of everyone and everything. Whilst doing it with the clearest of conscience because they themselves have been tarnished by their own actions. Tarnished to the point of being entirely self serving. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.