The Not So Breakfast Show
Listen, laugh and learn as we share our latest thoughts about staying relevant, contemporary leadership and doing life right. Ish Cheyne is the Head of Fitness in New Zealand for global fitness juggernaut Les Mills. Sacha Coburn is the COO of Coffee Culture, a leading group of boutique coffee shops, and the co-founder of The Company You Keep.co.nz.
The Not So Breakfast Show
Episode 226: The Gap Between Expectation and Rain-Soaked Reality
Episode 226: The Gap Between Expectation and Rain-Soaked Reality
The episode opens with something completely unprecedented: Sacha starting the show with a ChatGPT-generated script about disappointment. Three minutes of AI-crafted banter later, both hosts are thoroughly weirded out and decide to start over properly - leading to a deeper conversation about disappointment, expectations, and why sitting with difficult feelings might actually be helpful.
Main Topics
- The AI Experiment -- ChatGPT's attempt at writing "in the style of Sacha and Ish" produces technically competent but soulless content, complete with gendered examples (Sacha gets Broadway, Ish gets sports) and zero authentic connection
- Holiday Disappointment Reality -- Ish and Jo's Sunshine Coast getaway turns into a rain festival, complete with blocked streets, concrete mixers, and the ultimate insult: a 500-piece New Zealand jigsaw puzzle missing one piece
- The Buddhist Vs. Reality Approach -- Sacha explores the "have zero expectations" philosophy versus actually wanting things to improve, landing on gratitude plus quick adaptation to new circumstances as the sweet spot
- Big Disappointments Hit Different -- When years of work don't pay off, or when you feel genuinely wronged (head girl trauma, ballet exam failures, construction tender rejections with mysterious four-week feedback delays)
- The Emotional Spectrum Problem -- Why calling everything "devastating" or being "obsessed" with lipstick dilutes our ability to accurately describe what we're actually experiencing
The Deeper Philosophy
Sacha and Ish challenge the self-help industry's rush to "fix" uncomfortable feelings, suggesting we sit with disappointment briefly before problem-solving. The pain signals information - maybe you weren't as excited about that job as you thought, or maybe this teaches resilience you'll need later.
Key Insights
- Disappointment is the gap between expectation and reality - hedge your forecasts accordingly
- Moving quickly from "what happened" to "what now" is a crucial life skill
- Language shapes experience - "took a bit longer today" hits different than "terrible traffic"
- Sometimes the best stories come from the worst plans (Freaky Friday watching in the rain > beach cocktails)
- Kids need to experience friction to develop coping skills for adult disappointments
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PS: The fact that ChatGPT accurately predicted the missing jigsaw puzzle pieces is either impressive pattern recognition or genuinely creepy AI surveillance.