Season One Finale: The Last of Us Business Journey Comes to a Close

In the season finale of the School of Moxie Podcast, host Mary Williams reflects on the journey of Season 1, centered around the video game adaptation, "The Last of Us." She shares insights from the official podcast of the show, where creators originally aimed for ten episodes but discovered a more compelling narrative by merging the first two episodes into one. This parallels the concept of completing hard tasks, and Mary emphasizes the importance of facing challenges and growing through them.

Listeners are encouraged to catch up on "The Last of Us" and engage in self-reflection by listening to the podcast, reading "Bittersweet" by Susan Cain, and practicing intuitive content consumption. The episode concludes with gratitude for the audience's support, an invitation to stay connected through social media and newsletters, and an exciting teaser for Season 2 with "Ted Lasso."

Links:
Links to resources, transcript, show notes, and show information are found on the podcast homepage.

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Guest information

Mary is the CEO and founder of Sensible Woo.  A librarian by trade, who established herself in the entertainment industry as the digital archivist for a major animation production studio, she has consulted for not only entertainment companies, but also marketing agencies, tech start-ups, and non-profit fundraising organizations.  For the last eight years, she’s been a business coach championing the focus on systems and data management as a solid foundation for sustainable businesses that scale.  You can travel with Mary as she records guests in studios through her weekly emails, YouTube, Instagram, and Threads.  

Show Credits

• Host, Writer, Producer:  Mary Williams
• Sound Master:  Chris Martin
• Marketing Support:  The AK Collective

Transcript

Welcome to the School of Moxie Podcast, brought to you by Sensible Woo.  This is the podcast where we break the mold around business podcast conversations.  We make it FUN around here by using television, movies, and entertainment as the jumping off point for conversations about how we navigate the world as individuals.  

I’m your host, Mary Williams, and I’ve been an online creator since 2010.  I’ve seen a lot of trends come and go over the years, but one thing that has persisted is a struggle among entrepreneurs to connect more authentically with their audiences.  

As a business systems, process, and operations coach, I’ve seen how much my clients and subscribers have benefited from learning how to incorporate their fun sides, so we’re going to demonstrate this for you here on this podcast through analogous thinking.  Not only that, but we’re using media and entertainment as the lens through which we reflect on our own desires and strengths.

Fiction is the vehicle that gives us words to articulate our value systems and tells people who we are.  I find that a lot of my audience (and probably yours as well) struggle to find words for their problems until they start thinking about how to use analogies.  Analogies help us build bridges between something we can describe into a new area that we’re in the process of developing.

As humans, we are a languaged species, which means we find context and meaning in our lives through the ability to put our feelings into words.  This podcast is going to help you normalize this process and see how it’s done in real time as my guests talk through their own experiences in relation to the episode they’ve been assigned for this show.

Our first season of this podcast is centered on the first season of the HBO series The Last of Us, based on the video game of the same name.  Consider this your official spoiler alert!  On this podcast, my guests are going to jump right into the conversation and we are going to spill all the tea on the story and plot… so if you enjoy being surprised, I encourage you to watch the episode first before listening to our discussion.

Now let’s get watching and talking…

Hey y’all… Mary here for one final episode of season 1.  That’s right!  We’ve reached the season finale.  And would you like to hear something kind of funny about this episode?  It’s number 19 and I honestly thought I would end up with an even number 20 this season.  In fact, I almost pushed myself to make this become an even 20.  But then I remembered the magic of numerology, which involves reducing numbers down to single digits.  So, one plus nine equals ten… which is still a double digit number.  So, you reduce it further where one plus zero equals one.  So, we’re back to the beginning again with episode number 19 and it feels really special to call this season wrapped on today’s episode with that number.

It’s also really fitting for the energy of season one, which was focused exclusively on The Last of Us.  If you pay close attention, you’ll notice that The Last of Us also ends on an odd number… the number nine.  My guests this season had a LOT of homework and one of the things they were tasked with doing was listening to the official podcast for this show, which is produced by HBO.  The show runners give you all their behind-the-scenes secrets and creative decision making processes on the podcast, which replaces the DVD extras from the days of old.  I highly recommend that podcast if you want to dive deeper into the creative process because they share so much valuable information and insight that I think you can’t help but become inspired to do the same in your marketing materials.

On the official podcast they talked about how they originally wrote season one of The Last of Us to be a ten episode series.  But when the pilot episode was screened in the production process, the executives at the studio thought it was too disjointed between episodes one and two… there simply weren't enough compelling reasons to connect with the characters and understand why they embark on this journey together.  So, they edited their work and created a nearly feature length pilot episode, combining episodes one and two… which created a domino effect in the rest of the episodes. And now we have a nine episode series rather than the original vision of ten episodes. 

I work with entrepreneurs in their energetic spaces when I’m not nerding out on television shows and creating podcasts in formats that people don’t do right now in business.  So maybe it’s the super woo side of sensible woo that I feel the energy of this season on the School of Moxie podcast expertly fell into lock step with its source material from The Last of Us and for that, I give a hat tip to the media gods and goddesses for hearing our discussions this year and putting the period on the end of the sentence.

Part of me really didn’t want to wrap this season.  I’m just not emotionally done with The Last of Us and now that the actor and writer strikes are over, it means they’ll finally start filming season two.  So long as season two is as riveting as season one, you can bet your automated funnels that I’m going to bring it back in the future on this podcast!  I still feel that The Last of Us may not have been the show everyone wanted for season one… but it was the show that we all needed.

Last week when I was chatting with Chris about our production room adventures this year, I said that The Last of Us represents a bigger action for our business community.  It represents doing hard things and getting through them.  You might think that watching a television series seems kind of stupid compared to the bigger problems you need to solve in your business right now.  And with the way the economy and the market has been up and down this year, you are well within your right to feel those feelings.

And also.  And also.  And also…

We have to learn how to finish hard things.  To get through those times without glossing over them.  This show forces you to do that.  And my guests this season were such super troopers in humoring my proof-of-concept season.  To them, I give the biggest hat tip and heartiest round of virtual hugs.  Saying yes to being a guest on a podcast is a big deal no matter what.  And then me, being me, I piled on a shit ton of extra extra… you can blame it on my Leo sun, Leo moon, Leo in Jupiter, Leo in Mercury… lots of Leo energy here.  Go big or go home is in my DNA, what can I say?

As this season has dripped out, episode by episode, my business activities have continued to evolve and grow.  There have been some truly uncomfortable moments this year and some truly exciting new beginnings.  One thing that has been growing steadily in my world for quite some time and then matured into a more concrete thing is the work I do with entrepreneurs helping them incorporate their human design into their business activities.  As I’ve been helping them interpret their charts and weave those patterns into their real world actions and decisions, I’ve become acutely aware of my own human design.  

You see, I’m a Manifestor … and for all my human design nerds out there, I’m a 6/3 emotional Manifestor, so now you know.  Being a Manifestor is hard in this Generator world.  I’m one of the rarer types in human design at about only 9% of the world’s population sharing my type along with me.  Manifestors are the only human design type that has energy built for initiating new things that this world has never seen before.  This podcast with the television analogies as a vehicle for talking about business is a perfect example of this type of initiation.  I really only make great stuff when I feel the intuitive creative urge to make things happen in reality.  Believe me when I say I have lots of Generators around me telling me all the time that they think I should do this, that, and the other… and this year through producing this podcast, I finally matured into my energetic flow as a Manifestor.  Which means that I am acutely aware of when I’m feeling a true creative urge and when I am not.  

This podcast is a major expression and I don’t know where it all comes from. I just know that it comes through me and that it’s my job to make it happen in the fullest extent possible from the vision that I have clearly been delivered through divine channeling.  And yes, the part about recording live in studios around the world was part of that vision that I will continue to execute.  But another part of being a Manifestor is honoring my rest cycle as well.  After these massive creative outputs, I find my energy dipping dramatically and I’m simply tired.  The urge to create is not there.  I was trying to push out just a little extra and then Chris and I had a conversation and he may not have realized it at the time, but he channeled a divine piece of guidance for me and said, “Mary, I think your season is done.  You’re allowed to end it.”  

So here we are at episode 19 instead of 20.  And I couldn’t be happier about it.

I do know what is on deck and if you’ve listened to our previous episodes you’ve heard this discussed a few times now.  Season two for the School of Moxie Podcast is going to be focused on the Apple TV Plus series, Ted Lasso.  We’re going to use all three seasons as our material for the next season on this podcast… yes, to talk about your business journey!

I’m in the process of scripting and casting parts for the season and unlike season one of this podcast where each guest was assigned a single episode from The Last of Us, we’re going to change that up a bit in season two with Ted Lasso.  First off, there are way too many episodes to talk about Ted Lasso in an episodic fashion.  You would be bored out of your mind and I would be driven nuts trying to produce that many episodes.  

So I’m inviting in guests for next season based on characters.  Each person will be assigned a character to follow through all three seasons of Ted Lasso and then we’ll have discussions based on what each character represents, their story arcs, and how that reflects back to us our own journeys as complex humans wearing the title of CEO.

While we’re on a season break, I think this is the perfect time to catch up on The Last of Us and the discussions around each episode.  If you want to be like one of our guests, you can also pick up the book Bittersweet by Susan Cain and enjoy that reading experience.  I guarantee you are going to find something within yourself that you didn’t realize needed an audience with your conscious thoughts.  Between the show and the book, you’re in incredibly good hands.  If you want to earn some proverbial gold stars, then I also recommend that you listen to the official podcast for The Last of Us episode by episode as you watch the show.  Then, as you listen to the guests from The School of Moxie podcast, you can ask yourself what is this helping you uncover about yourself?  

You can use the last few episodes on this podcast, particularly episodes 16, 17, and 18 to help you synthesize all these dots and connect them within yourself.  The goal here is to take your content consumption out of autopilot and into a deeper, more intuitive space of reflection.  This is a genuine skill.  And with all skills, it requires practice.

I get asked so frequently how to build intuitive skills because I offer this professionally to my business clients.  It’s honestly these very normal, human activities that, when done with great intention and thoughtfulness, produce a muscle in your intuitive space that you simply cannot get through some bypassing type of activity.  Your intuitive muscles require you to spend focused, conscious time with yourself and this podcast format is truly built to help you lift those intuitive weights.  If you do this, by the time we get to releasing Ted Lasso discussions for season two, you’re going to go deeper faster in those podcast episodes that you do now with The Last of Us.  

I firmly believe that both The Last of Us as well as Ted Lasso are inherently feminist stories at their core.  It’s funny because they both feature a lot of male leads and male characters.  But they hold space for women’s experiences and viewpoints and repeatedly show us where female expression and presence is regularly shut out of decision making rooms and discussions on the world stage.  I have felt that both toxic masculinity and toxic femininity are fully on deck for massive scale takedowns.  This isn’t about being angry at external forces, but rather time for us to examine where these toxic traits reside within ourselves so that we don’t continue to perpetuate those patterns in our entrepreneurial world.

I’ll be posting all kinds of teaser information through my weekly email newsletter, on my YouTube channel, and through social media on Instagram in particular.  You can keep tabs on how this all develops by subscribing to emails and YouTube and following me on Instagram.  There might be some after-the-show bonus episodes with season one guests while we’re on hiatus around here and so long as you’re subscribed to this podcast, you’ll be the first to hear the trailer for season two when we drop the Ted Lasso preview in spring 2024.

Thank you so much for listening this season and helping this podcast root firmly into the audio landscape.  I am so grateful for your listens and your shares and your support!  If you want to stay in touch or support the podcast, please check out the show notes on this episode for all of those links. I am wishing you an amazing transition into the new energies of the coming year and I’ll see you… in season two with Ted Lasso.  As Ted Lasso s00ays, "I think things come into our lives to help us get from one place to a better one."  So, thank you to The Last of Us as we journey from one season to the next.

This has been the official School of Moxie podcast with your host, Mary Williams.  The show is written and produced by Mary Williams and this episode was recorded in Vancouver, Washington at the Sensible Woo home office. Chris Martin from Chris Martin Studios is our editor and the sound engineer for this episode.  Additional production and marketing support is provided by The AK Collective, founded by Amber Kinney.

I’m Mary Williams, your host and the founder of Sensible Woo.  You can watch the HBO original series The Last of Us on Max.com.  As a librarian, I will always encourage you to check out our companion book, Bittersweet by Susan Cain, at your local library.  

You can find this show wherever you listen to podcasts and all of the links to resources, guest information, and anything else we might reference in an episode are in the show notes.  

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Until next week, be sensible, be woo, and most of all, be you.