Why do you like a song so much… and why does it become your song? Why can't you recite the lyrics to an old favourite on demand - but the second the track starts, you’re singing every word?

In this episode of The Gen X/Z Exchange, we go beyond “favourite bands” chat and get into the psychology and neuroscience of music - starting with our all-time favourite songs, then unpacking the three things that can turn any track into a lifelong favourite.

From the ‘Reminiscence Bump’ (why music from certain ages sticks more) to the cascading version that explains why your parents’ classics can feel like your nostalgia too, this one’s a proper brain-meets-bangers deep dive.

We cover how a live band can become a 'biological conductor' of the crowd, the role music plays in films and laugh at a few misheard lyrics.

You’ll learn:

• The science behind “favourite songs” and why some tracks feel so personal
• What the Reminiscence Bump is - and how it shapes Gen X vs Gen Z taste
• Why lyrics live in your brain differently than spoken words
• How to find new music (and why many of us stop searching as we get older)
• How to run an inter-generational family listening party

Listen in and you’ll discover how music can unlock memory, boost connection, and - even in some cases - help people access speech and movement when other routes fail.

Hit play now!

1.02 Chris and Lily each briefly discuss their all-time favourite song

3.02 The three things that can make a song a favourite

5.40 The 'Reminiscence Bump'

8.03 Why you can't recite lyrics on demand, but as soon as the song starts you can sing along all the way through

10.07 Where to find new music and why we stop listening to new music as we get older

17.23 The 'Cascading Reminiscence Bump'

18.39 How to run an inter-generational family listening party

26.43 Live music - three things that make for a great live performance

31.40 The Playlist for Life and the effect music can have on people who have lost speech or motor skills

33.53 Film music

35.17 Misheard lyrics

You can find out more about Playlist for Life here:

https://www.playlistforlife.org.uk/

Send us a voice message on Speakpipe!

https://www.speakpipe.com/thegenxzexchange

Connect with us:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisperkins172/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-perkins-8446a82bb/

We're taking a short break over Christmas and New Year....but we have lots planned for 2026!

Have a listen to this short trailer to hear some of the topics we have coming up and a thank you message from us for all your support over the last six months.

If you've enjoyed the show this year, the best Christmas present you could give us is a five-star rating and review to help new listeners discover the show.

Thanks for all your support! Have a great festive season and we'll see you in January!

Send us a voice message on Speakpipe!

https://www.speakpipe.com/thegenxzexchange

Connect with us:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisperkins172/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-perkins-8446a82bb/

Ever wondered why your boss, your mentor, or your Gen Z colleague just doesn’t seem to “get” how you work? Or why feedback that fires up one generation can shut down another?

Chris and Lily sit down with Gabby Rosely - former competitive swimmer turned entrepreneur, corporate leader and now multigenerational teams expert - to unpack the real reasons behind generational friction at work.

Gabby has managed teams spanning Boomers to Gen Z while still in her twenties, and she’s here to share what actually helps us connect, communicate, and collaborate across age divides.

You’ll learn:

• The surprising historical forces that shaped each generation’s work style
• Why “Engage-Discuss” vs. “Command-Obey” is the key model to understanding generational differences
• How different generations view and want to receive feedback - and how to adapt when it’s not your style
• Whether gender plays a role in these workplace dynamics
• The story behind Gabby’s 77-year-old mentee - and her personal motto, “Say yes before you’re ready!”

Whether you’re managing, mentoring, or just trying to get along in a multigenerational team, listen in and you’ll discover how to bridge the gap - and build a workplace where every generation thrives.

Hit play now and decode the generations with us.

3.10 Intro to Gabby

4.20 Gabby’s story

6.53 Historical influences shaping each generation (7.33 Boomers; 9.13 Gen X; 12.04 Millennials; 13.55 Gen Z)

12.34 Engage-Discuss vs Command-Obey

15.49 How the generations connect and motivate people at work (16.12 Boomers; 17.20 Gen X; 19.45 Millennials; 20.40 Gen Z)

21.18 Different generational views on feedback

23.06 How to avoid getting it wrong with other generations

27.27 Is there a gendered element to these challenges?

32.03 How each generation wants to receive feedback (32.15 Gen Z; 32.54 Millennials; 33.16 Gen X; 33.56 Boomers)

34.30 How to respond if feedback doesn’t meet your preferences

36.08 Gabby’s 77-year-old mentee

38.55 Gabby’s motto - “Say yes before you’re ready!”

41.26 Walking away and moving to Costa Rica

46.48 Gabby’s programs and how you can connect to learn more

49.00 Our key takeaways

Connect with Gabby Rosely:

https://www.gabbyrosely.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabbyrosely/

Send us a voice message on Speakpipe!

https://www.speakpipe.com/thegenxzexchange

Connect with us:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisperkins172/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-perkins-8446a82bb/

Ever caught yourself thinking, “Maybe I should cut back” or “Am I drinking too much?” If so, this episode is for you.

We sit down with Steve Kirchell, Alcohol-Free Performance Coach, to talk about what it really means to be Sober Curious - and why going alcohol-free might be easier than you think.

Steve shares his personal journey to becoming alcohol-free, the subtle warning signs your drinking might be becoming problematic, and the number-one reason people stay stuck on the fence. We explore how alcohol affects your brain, body, and behaviour - and how to build confidence in social situations without it.

You’ll learn:

• How to handle social pressure and challenge friends who push you to drink
• Whether moderation ever really works, or if it’s all-or-nothing
• The 'Joy of Missing Out' instead of ‘Fear of Missing Out’ and how to enjoy life alcohol-free
• How long alcohol stays in your system and what it’s doing to you
• Practical advice for navigating the Christmas Party season with confidence
  
  

Whether you’re curious about cutting back, questioning your habits, or ready to quit completely, listen in and discover how to redefine fun, confidence, and connection without the glass in hand.

Hit play now.

0.57 Chris and Lily’s thoughts on going alcohol-free

2.40 Steve’s journey to an alcohol-free lifestyle

5.50 Gen Z’s typical experience of drinking escalating

6.24 The warning signs that your drinking is becoming problematic

8.44 The stages of people drinking on a night out

9.33 Has social media made Gen Z more cautious about excessive drinking?

12.00 Will your friends support you?

12.54 Sober curious? Is it all-or-nothing or can you drink in moderation?

14.36 How long it takes for alcohol to leave your system

15.13 The effects of repeated alcohol consumption on your brain and body

18.50 How drinking gets normalised as you get older

19.19 How to get confident you can break ingrained habits

21.08 How to challenge a friend who might pressure you to keep drinking

21.58 The ‘Joy of Missing Out’

24.00 Considering alcohol-free? How to get over feeling alcohol is essential to loosening you up and making you feel more confident

25.50 The time we all had fun without alcohol

28.53 How going alcohol-free might be easier than you think

30.32 How Steve’s life is different now since stopping drinking

32.00 Other signs that you might want to reconsider your relationship with alcohol

33.40 How to find out more about Steve’s Alcohol-Free Blueprint

34.15 How Steve’s 1:1 support works

36.27 Advice for handling the Christmas Party season

Connect with Steve Kirchell:

https://alcoholfreeblueprint.info/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-kirchell-8951a73/

https://www.instagram.com/steve_kirchell_coaching/

Send us a voice message on Speakpipe!

https://www.speakpipe.com/thegenxzexchange

Connect with us:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisperkins172/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-perkins-8446a82bb/

“Why can’t I just get on with the things I keep putting off?” If that sounds familiar, this episode is for you.

Gen X dad and Gen Z daughter Chris and Lily team up with productivity coach Wilson Obeneme to break down why we procrastinate, how it derails our focus, and what we can do to take action sooner.

Wilson shares surprising stats about procrastination, explores its root causes, and reveals the top three blockers that stop us tackling the tasks that matter most. We also dig into the hidden costs of delaying and how to avoid them.

You’ll learn:

• Two practical approaches to kick-start tasks you’ve been avoiding
• How perfectionism and “time-blindness” (ignoring deadlines) trap us - and how to beat them
• Three actionable steps to overcome procrastination using accountability
• The single morning micro-habit that can transform your productivity
  
  

Whether you’re struggling with study deadlines or drowning in a never-ending to-do list at work, listen in and you’ll discover simple tools to beat procrastination.

Even if the habit feels deeply ingrained, you can shift from “I’ll do it later” to “I'm done now.”

Hit play now.

1.12 Chris & Lily’s procrastination tendencies

2.20 Introduction to Wilson

3.25 Wilson’s early experience of becoming hyper-productive

5.58 Is procrastination something that happens, a habit or part of your identity?

7.40 Stats on procrastination

11.04 Causes of procrastination and different types

12.05 Three key reasons that stop people doing what they want

15.18 How to get started with tasks you’re putting off

19.40 How to overcome procrastination due to perfectionism and time blindness

22.55 The 8-8-8 rule and the work-rest cycle

25.05 Three additional steps to overcome procrastination using accountability

28.50 The hidden costs of procrastination

30.18 Micro-habits to beat procrastination

33.48 How to connect with Wilson

35.30 Our takeaways

Connect with Wilson Obeneme:

Take the 3-minute productivity quiz:

https://quiz.thegrowthplug.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/wilsonobeneme/

https://www.instagram.com/thegrowthplug_/

https://www.youtube.com/@thegrowthplug_podcast

Send us a voice message on Speakpipe!

https://www.speakpipe.com/thegenxzexchange

Connect with us:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisperkins172/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-perkins-8446a82bb/

We spend time at work, think about work, talk about work and then come home and watch TV shows about work!

Would you love to message ‘Urgent exit required’ to get out of boring meetings?

Would you sever your work self from your self outside work?

Could you work in Carmy’s kitchen from ‘The Bear’?

We talk about what we can learn from the portrayals of different workplaces in our favourite TV shows.

You’ll learn:

• How Chris learned to launder money from a TV show
• Which show Lily thinks is the offspring of a workplace drama and a Black Mirror episode
• Why Lily would want to have a failing business just so Nathan Fielder could visit
• How Ted Lasso formed a new Perkins family Christmas tradition

Whether you could see yourself working in Suits, Succession or Schitt’s Creek, join us for this episode to hear about how we’ve actually applied some things from TV shows at our work and what these shows have taught us about the workplace.

If you love a show we haven’t discussed below, get in touch and let us know as we might revisit this topic in a future episode….

Hit play now.

1.10 Lily’s top TV shows

1.47 Chris’ top TV shows

2.40 The Office (UK)

3.26 THe Office (US)

4.15 Mad Men

5.26 Line of Duty

6.50 Brooklyn Nine-Nine

7.25 Severance

9.48 Parks & Recreation

10.36 The Bear

13.15 Schitt’s Creek

15.03 Ozark

17.30 Nathan for You

19.37 The Curse

20.25 Suits

21.33 Succession

22.26 Ted Lasso

24.15 What does all this mean for us?

Send us a voice message on Speakpipe!

https://www.speakpipe.com/thegenxzexchange

Connect with us:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisperkins172/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-perkins-8446a82bb/

Is your social circle shrinking? Learn the rules of making and keeping friends, no matter your age.

Why is it so much harder to make new friends after school? From the playground to the workplace, the rules of friendship change drastically. In this Ultimate Guide, Chris and Lily break down the lifespan of your social circle.

We share our stories about those childhood BFFs and dive into the tough adult realities: different roles in a friendship group, what you risk ‘borrowing’ friends from your partner and the impact social media and AI is having on really connecting with your friends.

You’ll learn:

• How and why our friendships change as we get older
• Gender differences in friendships
• Why it’s nearly impossible to maintain more than 150 relationships in total
• Causes of loneliness
• How to manage friendship breakups
• How to get better at making and keeping friendships as an adult

If you've ever felt the pang of loneliness or wondered how to build a stronger crew, this episode is for you.

Whether you’re Gen X trying to juggle your friendships and your partner’s, or Gen Z figuring out social media's impact, listen in to transform your social circles and get better at the art of being a friend.

Hit play now.

1.34 Lily and Chris’ best friends
5.13 Defining friendship
6.37 Can you be friends with someone you’ve never met?
9.10 Loneliness limbo
10.40 Earliest friendships
15.48 Gender differences in friendships
21.15 Social media’s impact on friendships
23.30 Dunbar’s number explained (why you can only handle about 150 social relationships)
25.56 Roles in a female friendship group
29.40 Roles in a male friendship group (spoiler: not as many!)
30.45 Are your friendships ‘side-by-side’ or ‘face-to-face’?
34.00 The risks of ‘borrowed’ friends
36.19 Ways to overcome loneliness
37.53 Modern solutions to creating new friendships
40.55 Friendship breakups
42.42 How to get better at making friends and keeping friends

Send us a voice message on Speakpipe!

https://www.speakpipe.com/thegenxzexchange

Connect with us:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisperkins172/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-perkins-8446a82bb/

Did you know you experience some kind of transition in life about every 18 months? Every now and then, we experience a major change that threatens to totally derail us. It can seem overwhelming, but there’s a practical toolkit you can use to help you get through it.

We all make plans and expect our lives to follow the pattern we have in mind. Life, unfortunately, has other ideas. Typically, we experience 3-5 major life transitions in adulthood. Some we instigate, others seem to come out of nowhere.

In this episode, Chris and Lily discuss their own life transitions and some different ways to approach them. Drawing on research into what works when facing one of these big ‘lifequakes’, they discuss eight steps you can take to make sense of the upheaval.

You’ll learn:

• Why a transition needs to start with an ending
• What we can do to develop the right mindset for dealing with setbacks
• Why you need to shed your old self to move on
• How getting creative can be exactly what you need at rock bottom
• How to tell the story of the new you

Whatever you have to deal with, the tools and approaches we discuss in this episode will help you get through it a little more easily.

Hit play now!

Bruce Feiler's TED talk:

https://www.ted.com/talks/bruce_feiler_the_secret_to_mastering_life_s_biggest_transitions

Send us a voice message on Speakpipe!

https://www.speakpipe.com/thegenxzexchange

Connect with us:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisperkins172/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-perkins-8446a82bb/