S3 Quickfire · Simon Cooper

Alright, Simon Cooper, welcome to Quickfire 30-ish questions where I'm just going to ask you a bunch of stuff and you're going to tell us and it's going to let the people get to know who the man behind the beautifully quiffed hair is. Quiffed. Nicknames? Nicknames. Coop. Legends. Big cheese. The big slice. The big slice. The panda coach. Panda coach, loves pandering. Favourite foods? Traditionally pizza. I'm a bit of a chocolate guy. Good burger. Favourite type of ice cream? Cookies and cream. I thought you were a vanilla man. Not that bland. You're pretty bland. Favourite movies? Inception is brilliant.

Yeah, good. No, not Inception. I'm thinking of Interstellar. Inception is also great, but Interstellar is the one I'm thinking of. I rewatched that the other day, after we were talking about it. That's another nickname. Can you say "alright, alright, alright" into the camera? "Alright, alright, alright." Favourite music? At the moment, I'm really enjoying classical music. Yeah? You would. There's a bit of piano and strings. I like it. Are you playing - Or jazz. A bit of jazz in the evenings. Smooth jazz? Yeah. Are you playing the classical music to your unborn child to help fetal development?

I have not yet. That is a - Well, it's a thing. On the to-do list. Favourite books? And this is an infinite list for someone like you, someone as well ready as you, but what are the most impactful books? Turning Pro, Steven Pressfield, Brilliant, Tribes, Seth Godin, Going Right, Logan Galbraith. Good. Favourite podcasts? Not the Verz Podcast. No. Verz Podcast, brilliant. I'm really enjoying Rich Roll's podcast at the moment. That is brilliant. Long form interview style. Really enjoy Adam Grant's podcast, which is called Work Life, I think. Yep. Oh man, there's so many. I've invited myself over to dinner, which is not out of the regular.

What are you cooking for me? I'd probably cook, look, I'd probably cook either a steak or a, like a brisket or something. Yeah, good. How do you like steak? Rare. Pretty rare. Yeah, pretty rare. I had one last night. Still mooing? Still. Just bring a cow home and take off. Still mooing is a great way to explain a steak. Yeah. Alright, pick three people to join us for dinner, alive or not currently existing. And why? Because I've been listening to a lot of him lately. Andrew Huberman. Oh, yeah. Good. He's a biologist out of Stanford. No, neuro...

Neurologist. Neurologist. Stanford University. Podcast, dude. He's a podcast and you appeal to authority, so play on. Probably Yvon Chouinard. Oh. Oh, wait. Just get... Earth is our... Yeah, good. You're wearing that with pride today. Absolutely. Earth is our only shareholder now. Is maybe one of the best lines in the history of business. Yep. I think, yeah, super interesting because of he's the most unwilling businessman ever, but also... His booklet, My People Go Surfing. Such a change maker. He's phenomenal. Yeah. Yeah. We could talk about him for a while. We should have talked about it in the main episode, but play on.

People can listen to other good things in the main episode. Third person. Probably Bernie Cooper. Oh, third person. B Coops. B Coops. Not Bryn. You wouldn't invite Bryn. Same person. Uncle Bryn. Uncle Bryn. Favourite place in the world. Favourite place in the world. Home. Oh. Dream travel destination. I'd love to go to South America. Yeah. Good. Yeah. I've done Europe a little bit, but I've not been. I've done the US, but not South America. Yep. It's phenomenal. If you could teach everyone in the world one thing, what would it be? That's a great question. Thanks. The next thing that comes to mind is to listen and ask better questions.

Oh, Simon Cooper. The question guy. Perfect day off. What does it look like? Perfect day off. So I'd probably wake up around... So this is assuming that I have gone to bed early the morning before. Let's just say that I have, and I've gotten my full eight hours, but I'll wake up around five. I'll take the dogs for a walk, come to the gym, train with the 6AM VGT crew, jump in the ice bath, go to Common Folk, have breakfast where I would meet Sally-Ann. And then probably do a little bit of work, and I'd probably be selective about what that work is.

Of course. Do something that's intellectually stimulating as well as meaningful and something that I'm passionate about. Spend some time outside, no matter what it is, going for a walk or doing something adventurous. I've had some friend time, had some time with Sally-Ann, then home to Great Nick Grove for dinner with my folks, have a family dinner. That's some brisket. Some cuddles with Henry. I love Henry. Before bed. Love that. Couple of firsts. First car? First car was my 1997 Ford Falcon. I've seen some things at Ford. Yeah, the white leopard. The snow leopard. I forgot you called it that.

First job? It was at a YMCA camp, an analyzing camp, in the kitchens. Good. KP worked there. Few squad worked there. First sporting team, probably the Play Four or Barrick Four? I reckon the first team that I supported would have been the mighty West Coast Eagles, and the first team that I would have played for ... I mean, I played soccer growing up, and I did start in WA. I can't remember what the team was called, but the most, I guess, meaningful team that I played for growing up was Mornington Sog Club. Nice. First concert? I reckon it was Birds of Tokyo.

I have an irrational hate for Birds of Tokyo. They suck. Why do you hate good things? I don't know. They were just at a lot of festivals we used to go to, and I was just like, "Why? Why?" Nah, so their old stuff's not good. Dream concert? Dream concert. Does a person have to be alive? No. It's a dream, mate. That's a great question. The Who. The Who. Maybe. You would launch. I would launch. What's your pet hate? Pet hate. When people don't acknowledge me when I do something good for them, driving in the car. Just give me acknowledgement.

That is so petty. Which teams of sport ... Oh, we went through the follow. When have you failed and learned from it? Massively open-ended question, I know. Probably the thing that comes to mind is after university when I was applying for a lot of graduate roles, I didn't get any. I applied to somewhere between 60 and 100. That's insane. Interviewed for a bunch, got to certain levels within that process, but never succeeded. I learnt a lot about the process of submitting applications for graduate roles, but I think that the biggest learning from that was gaining the ability to describe my accomplishments and talk about what I've done.

Almost looking back and reflecting on my professional and personal accomplishments and failures and what I've gained from those. I like that. Good learning. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? I don't know, but the one thing I had to remember was probably in grade three or grade four, we had a careers day, so we had to dress up as what we wanted to be when we grew up. I dressed up as a sports commentator. Basically, the kit you're wearing now. I think I might have worn dad's suit or something, so massively oversized, made this little name tag that said channel seven, sport, and then memorized this little snippet.

Do you remember it? No, but it would be like, it was from AFL, a little snippet of like, "This player grabs a ball, they pass it on to this person, and they kick it off." What's your worst habit? Probably because it's front of mind, but not going to bed early enough. What do you wish every Virtus member knew? Is that the real question about your community? I think part of it would be to trust the process. There's a piece around patience there, but also trust and a willingness to commit to the process. To most use apps on your phone?

Apart from messages and calls, let's not count them, probably the podcast app, and probably Instagram. Your most controversial opinion is? Oh man, that's a big deep breath for everyone to... I don't have many controversial opinions, I'm very vanilla in my opinions. Hey, that's true, I'm sure you got one. Make some people mad, fire up some pitchforks. I don't know. Wow. Come back to me. There's no one else to go to. What are you currently listening to? So if you open your phone, what would your currently playing be? It would be a Tim Ferriss podcast with Andrew Huberman.

Sidebar, it's about me for a second, I started listening to Life by Keith Richards, his autobiography, and it's fucking insane. I'm like an hour and a half in, I'm like, "This guy should have been dead 15 times already." The audiobook that I'm currently listening to, very sporadically, is Never Split the Difference. Good, good, good. What are you currently watching? What are you and Sally Anne cuddling up to on the cam sheet show? So I've been struggling with finding something to watch. So we're watching a lot of the Rings of Power, the new Lord of the Rings, yeah it's today, so looking forward to that tonight.

Last night I started a show called The Terminal List on Amazon Prime, Chris Pratt. It's pretty good. Modern Love, Amazon Prime, get around it. It's heartwarming. What do you suck at? Controversial opinions, apart from that. Defining my opinions. I'm not very good at maintaining my boundaries, and probably an extension of that is being assertive. Yeah. Yeah. Favourite quote? Can I do two? Go on then. So the first one that comes to mind is, I think it was, might have been Marcus Aurelius, Don't Argue What a Good Man Is, B1. Yep, that was our boy. Brilliant. And the other one is, I actually don't know who to attribute this to.

Traveler, but, Traveler, the path is not made, wait I've bollocked that completely. Traveler the path is made by walking. There is no path. There is no path is made by walking. Antonio Machado. Do you have a morning routine? Yep, so, wake up, usually I wake up between five and six, depending on whether I'm training that morning. I will, I guess, I'll wake up and I'll have a cold shower, look after any bodily functions. Just in case anybody needs that level of detail. Just in case you weren't sure. I will take the dogs for a walk,

actually, no before I actually go to the dogs for a walk, I drink a big glass of water, I will take the dogs for a walk, and then I'll come back, if I'm going to the gym, then I'll go to the gym. Fuck, really? Really being so articulate. If I'm going to the gym, I'll go to the gym. If I've got to get coffee, I'll get coffee. I will either train or I'll do a recovery session, which might include ice bath or sauna. Book in at 6am and get there at 6.35. Yeah, that's been a bit of a habit lately.

We'll fix it. We'll get there. I will then, when I'm home, I'll make some coffee, and that coffee ritual has been pretty consistent and pretty steady. I like the manual process of doing a pour over coffee, so I'll do that, and then I'll, depending on what time it is, I will maybe sit in the sun, if there's sun, and drink some coffee and chat with Sal. When's the last couple of weeks been? We're getting there. What's the most impactful piece of advice you've been given? I don't know. It'll probably be something around just, I mean,

I can't put a finger on who would have given it to me, or when, but I feel like a piece of advice that has come up consistently from different people has been around just trying different things and experiencing ... Well, if an opportunity were to present itself to experience that, rather than waiting for something to be perfect. Two to go, who in your world would make a great guest for this podcast? I'm trying to think of someone who hasn't been on the podcast already. I'm more than happy to reconnect with someone that we haven't spoken to for a few years.

Cara Mill. Yeah, Cara, if you're listening, let's chat. We'll just come to Australia and we'll hang out. Last one. What happens when we die? I know that the people who love us will miss us. Keanu Reeves. Bang. Summat kubar. Have a good day.