What is a Good Life? #177 - Complicated Locks, Simple Keys with Sam Smith

What is a Good Life? #177 - Complicated Locks, Simple Keys with Sam Smith

From What is a Good Life? by Mark McCartney

June 1, 2026 · 56 min · Episode 177

About this episode

Mark McCartney and Sam Smith discuss life transitions, identity, and the meaning of a good life.

This week Mark McCartney sits down with Sam Smith. Sam sees life as a big old experiment. He used to play professional rugby, before starting a few businesses. Now he spends his time speaking to people, writing and loving his family. Last year he wrote his first book, The Door Was Never Locked . His latest project with his friend Garth, Conscious Soup launches soon, it's a Living Experiment. They aren't sure what that means yet. In this conversation, Sam opens up about the moment he retired from rugby at 26 and collapsed on a bathroom floor crying, escaping this transition with work and alcohol, and how a simple repeated gesture from a coach changed the entire direction of his life. We explore identity, the stories we carry without questioning, what it really means to lead as a human, and why a good life for him is wanting all of it - even the hard parts. If you are navigating any big life transitions right now, this conversation may be particularly helpful. For more from Sam Smith: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conscious-soup-studio/ You can grab a copy of his book: https://amzn.eu/d/07QwCqFQ And he'd love to hear from you: sam@thisisthechangingroom.com Check out Sam’s…

People in this episode

Host: Mark McCartney

Guest: Sam Smith

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Conscious Soup, LinkedIn, Amazon, MMCL Leadership, YouTube

Books & works: The Door Was Never Locked

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