“Is This It?” Mid-Life, Burnout & the Truth About How Your Mind Really Works

When Matt launched Deadlines & Detours, he thought it was a podcast about digital transformation and tech. It turns out, it’s about people – especially the ones who quietly rewrite how you see the world.In this episode, Matt sits down with Piers Thurston, founder of Quality of Mind, who’s spent 25 years in personal and professional development – from big enterprise to scrappy startups.What makes Piers’ work different? He’s moved past mindset hacks, productivity tricks and “high performance routines” and gone upstream to something much more fundamental: how the mind actually works.They get into:

Why life can feel like a constant grind – even when, on paper, you’ve “made it”What flow state really is (and why you don’t need rituals to get there)Aperture – how your state of mind colours reality in real timeWhy trying to constantly manage your mind is like trying to get dry while standing under a showerHow your default setting is already ease, and what changes when you stop trying to “fix” yourselfWhy this matters for leaders in fast-changing, ambiguous worlds (tech, digital, transformation, etc.)

If you’re in your mid-forties, successful on the outside but quietly asking “is this it?”, this one’s for you.This isn’t about becoming a Zen robot who never feels anything. It’s about seeing that there’s something deeper than your thoughts, feelings and stories – and how life, work and relationships shift when you start operating from there.

Real conversations with the people who’ve shaped how Matt thinks, works and lives – from digital transformation and leadership to the inner game that sits underneath all of it.

🔗 Resources & links– Piers’ Quality of Mind resources: https://qualityofmind.biz/podcast-resources/– Deadlines & Detours podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/deadlines-and-detours-the-human-stories-behind/id1829937272– Connect with Matt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewbp/