The Complexity of Toilet Paper

Complexity
  • 5.0 (7)
  • MENTAL HEALTH

This is a podcast about the search for simplicity and making life less complicated. A show that dives into both the everyday moments, as well as life's big stuff where we overthink, hesitate, or just get stuck. Through honest conversations, unexpected insights, and a whole lot of potty humor, puns, and hearty laughs - we are here to help you ROLL with it and make life a little less complicated, one conversation at a time. So, come join us in the Stall! Toilet Papewr not provided...yet!  Disclaimer: This podcast is for entertainment, growth, and informational purposes only. Any opinions expressed are those of the hosts and guests and do not reflect the views of any organizations we may be affiliated with. We’re not your therapists, lawyers, doctors, or plumbers, just a few folks talking it out with a roll of humor and a splash of real life. Please don’t make any major life decisions while on the toilet… or at least, don’t blame us if you do.  Show Credits: Show open music by RYYZNRoll Up music by AberrantRealitiesStall Bridge music by penguinmusic

  1. More Human Than Human: The Complexity of Change

    2D AGO

    More Human Than Human: The Complexity of Change

    Change rarely fails because of ideas; it fails because people feel unready, unheard, or unconvinced. We dig into the human side of change with clear stories, sharp questions, and a little bathroom-stall humor, exploring why data doesn’t drive decisions until we ask it the right questions. From nonprofit boards clinging to old playbooks to leaders navigating risk, we unpack how fear, fatigue, and control shape whether change takes root or fizzles. We get candid about personal transitions too: shifting roles at home, health updates that force new habits, and the uneasy gap between who we’ve been and who we’re becoming. The most grounding insight in the conversation is simple and powerful—your value as a human doesn’t change, even when your world does. With that constant as a horizon, we talk about choosing a North Star, designing small experiments, and turning anxiety into agency. Communication sits at the center: naming what will change, what will not, why it matters now, and how people can influence the outcome. That’s how “disagree and commit” becomes a principled choice rather than a silencing tool. Expect practical takeaways you can use today: reframing data questions to drive decisions, mapping readiness honestly, leading with context, and building buy-in without buzzwords. Along the way, we share a few hard-won lessons on humility, identity, and the mirror we all need to carry. If you’ve been stuck between “if it ain’t broke” and “we can’t wait,” this conversation will help you move. Subscribe, share with a friend who’s facing change, and leave a quick review to tell us your constant when everything shifts.

    57 min
  2. Year-End Aha Moments

    12/30/2025

    Year-End Aha Moments

    Our season finale pulls back the curtain on a year of recording together—late nights, missed takes, hard pivots—and reveals the simple truths we kept meeting in the stall: action breaks overthinking, grace sustains momentum, and authenticity beats polish every time. Along the way, our guests gave us golden nuggets of wisdom and our shared insights brought joy, laughter, harmony, and huge Aha's: • why authenticity beats polish • how action interrupts overthinking • managing fear so it doesn’t steal joy • energy transfer as a lens on rumination • trusting the conversation over the script • what we learned from each other’s growth • gratitude to listeners for time and presence • season two plans and new guest directions We swap a rigid show format for a living conversation and watch the dialogue deepen. Listeners tell us they walk, commute, and unwind with the pod, and their presence sharpens our purpose. We spotlight the insights that stuck and get personal about growth: learning to show up as ourselves instead of “performers,” trusting each other’s timing, and treating consistency like a marathon, not a sprint. Looking ahead, we’re doubling down on clarity and warmth. Expect conversations that make life’s sticky moments simpler to act on: how fear hides in smart habits, how to stop the energy bleed of analysis, and how community makes courage contagious. We’ll bring on voices across entrepreneurship, creativity, and everyday decision-making, while keeping the humor and heart you’ve come to expect. If this year’s aha moments sparked something for you, share the show with a friend, subscribe, and leave a review. Your presence keeps the conversation honest—and helps more people roll with it.

    1 hr
  3. The Farce And Farts Of Festive Perfection

    12/16/2025

    The Farce And Farts Of Festive Perfection

    Holiday magic gets real when we stop pretending it’s perfect. We open the stall door on festive stress—expectations, retail pressure, and those glossy social scenes—and swap them for quieter, kinder choices that actually feel good. With Phyllis, Mark, and Al at the mic, you’ll hear sharp insights, laugh-out-loud stories (including a grandmother with a right hook and an infamous acorn squash), and a blueprint for traditions that hold up when life doesn’t. We break down why the season boils over: performance pressure, commercial scripts, and the myth that one dinner heals old family rifts. Then we rebuild from the inside out. Think recycled gifts with stories attached. Donations in someone’s honor. A low-key meal that’s simply everyone’s favorite food on one table. Fewer obligations, more presence. And yes, a frank takedown of New Year’s resolutions in favor of small, durable habits you can start today. At the heart is gratitude—internal for resilience and growth, external for the people who stood beside us. We keep the humor close, because pressure pops faster when you laugh. If you’re tired of chasing picture-perfect holidays and ready for connection that fits your real life, this conversation meets you where you are and leaves you lighter. Hit play, share it with someone who needs a simpler season, and tell us the tradition you’re keeping or ditching this year. If this resonated, subscribe, leave a review, and help more listeners find a calmer, happier holiday.

    59 min
  4. The Complexity of The Pivot: Strategy & Survival in the Start-Up World

    12/02/2025

    The Complexity of The Pivot: Strategy & Survival in the Start-Up World

    A single email from the U.S. Navy changed everything. That’s where our conversation with founder Ron Ben Zev begins—at the exact moment a failing product became a viable company because he stopped pitching what he had and started solving what someone needed. Ron walks us through the unvarnished reality of the pivot: not a buzzword, but a survival move that separates stubbornness from strategy. We trace Ron’s route from early hustle in Europe to losing almost everything in the real estate crash, then rebuilding with World Housing Solutions by designing rapidly deployable, thermally efficient shelters. You’ll hear how he learned to outsource manufacturing to gain flexibility, why “when you carry a hammer, everything looks like a nail” will bankrupt your focus, and how teams—not ideas—earn investor trust when markets shift. His framework blends gut checks with living plans, turning fear into a compass rather than a cage. The emotional side gets equal airtime. Ron explains why the most powerful sentence in a founder’s toolkit is “I need your help,” and how asking early unlocks guidance, pressure tests assumptions, and saves precious runway. We close by looking forward: applying automation, AI, and modular design to the U.S. affordable housing gap, and what it actually takes to make innovation stick beyond the headline. If you’ve ever wondered when to hold, when to shift, and how to do both without losing your mind or your mission, this story gives you a practical set of tools and the courage to use them. If the episode resonates, share it with a friend who’s weighing a big change, subscribe for more thoughtful conversations on complexity, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway—we read every one. Show Notes: Most recently, Ron and World Housing Solutions was featured on Trade Talks, a show produced by NASDAQ that features conversations with top industry thought leaders on trends, news and education. Hosted by Jill Malandrino, Ron was a featured guest in August 2025 for the episode, “How Legislative Priorities, Regulatory Frameworks, and Strategies Are Driving U.S. Competitiveness.” (LINK:) https://www.nasdaq.com/videos/how-legislative-priorities-regulatory-frameworks-and-strategies-are-driving-us Keep in touch with Ron: Email: Ron@worldhousingsolution.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronsbenzeev/ Twitter: https://x.com/Rbenzeev Website: https://worldhousingsolution.com/

    1 hr
  5. The Anatomy of Trust: How Broken Promises, Clear Expectations, And Consistency Shape Who We Let In

    11/17/2025

    The Anatomy of Trust: How Broken Promises, Clear Expectations, And Consistency Shape Who We Let In

    What really breaks trust—the big betrayals or the tiny misses that stack up? We dig into the moments that quietly erode confidence, from “I’ll be there at two” to the email that never lands, and unpack why respect and trust are inseparable. A hard-earned story about an on-time ultimatum becomes a clear rule: time is respect, and consistency is the only path to repair. Along the way, we laugh at ourselves, own a public apology, and map the real difference between a rupture of trust and a simple failure of expectations. We also explore how trust transfers through people. When a close friend vouches for someone, their credibility becomes yours—and the risk does too. That’s why setting expectations early matters more than charm. Remote teams will recognize the thread: you can build deep trust at a distance with predictable delivery, transparent capacity, and a habit of defending each other’s reputations. From theater and improv, we borrow living proof that real-time collaboration only works when partners show up and keep small promises. The toughest pivot comes back to self-trust. People-pleasers often turn breaches into self-blame; a better move is to name the promise, clarify the standard, and let repair be measured by kept commitments over time. We offer a simple personal framework: write your values, define non-negotiables, decide your response to breaches, and practice the small behaviors that make big trust possible. If you’ve ever wondered whether to trust first or make it earned, you’ll leave with language, stories, and tools to choose wisely—and to fix what’s worth keeping. If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs a nudge toward clarity, and leave a quick review with your biggest takeaway. Your words help others find conversations they can trust.

    54 min
  6. Rethinking Trust: From Kid Confidence To Adult Caution

    11/04/2025

    Rethinking Trust: From Kid Confidence To Adult Caution

    A late recording link turned into a bigger conversation about the fragile, funny, very human mechanics of trust. We traced how trust feels easy when we’re kids—buoyed by kind mentors and predictable patterns—and how adulthood layers on caution after broken promises, loss, or plain old miscommunication. From baseball coaches who mixed kindness with accountability to the shock of a parent’s illness and the spiral of second-guessing, we unpack how our stories shape whether we offer trust freely, guard it closely, or rebuild it one small win at a time. We wrestle with a core question: do you give trust first, or make people earn it? One of us trusts and verifies, another trusts by default, and the third argues for context: different wells for different relationships. That led us to a simple, sticky metaphor you can use at work and at home. Picture a well of trust fed by small tributaries—kept promises, clear updates, owned mistakes, visible effort. Every miss dips a bucket from the waterline; every repair pours some back. Deep wells survive a big error. Shallow ones dry up. When the well drops below the tributaries, replenishment stops, and the relationship struggles. It’s a practical way to spot when you need to deposit more than you withdraw. We also separate confidence from trust without pretending they’re strangers. Trust is the baseline willingness to proceed. Confidence grows with proof—repetition, pattern, follow-through. If self-trust feels shaky, start with a tiny, repeatable act that contradicts your fear and keep doing it until it becomes pattern. In teams, make reliability easy to see: set expectations early, share constraints, fix misses fast, and change behavior visibly. That’s how you turn drama into maintenance and keep water flowing into the wells that matter most. If this resonated, tap follow, share it with a friend who values honest conversations, and leave a quick review telling us one action that earns your trust fast. Your notes help shape part two—where we take this trust talk into business and institutions.

    50 min
  7. Blood, Lies, and Toilet Paper: How One Young Man Took Down a $9 Billion Fraud

    10/21/2025

    Blood, Lies, and Toilet Paper: How One Young Man Took Down a $9 Billion Fraud

    Ever had that glass-shattering moment when a story you trusted falls apart in your hands? We sat down with Tyler Shultz, the Theranos whistleblower who chose truth over comfort at 22, and unpacked what really powers a hard decision when ethics feel murky and the stakes are personal. Tyler explains why his ordeal wasn’t an ethics seminar so much as a courage test—how you act when harm is clear, fear is loud, and the costs are real. We trace his path from Stanford grad to Theranos insider, where red flags showed up on day one: unvalidated tests, a culture of fear, and a PR machine masking vaporware. Add family ties—his grandfather George Shultz sat on the board—and the pressure gets intense. Tyler shares how he tried to prove himself wrong, pressed leaders and regulators, and finally spoke with The Wall Street Journal. Along the way, we talk about concrete harm to patients, the daily grind of recommitting to whistleblowing, and the unexpected strength that came from his parents’ unwavering support. Tyler also gets practical. He breaks down how to define your core values, why you should practice courage on low-stakes moments, and what he’d do differently today as a husband and father: talk to a lawyer early, use trusted whistleblower resources, and act with strategy as well as heart. We keep it human—yes, there’s bathroom banter and walk-up music jokes—because levity helps us stay with hard truths. If you’ve noticed a shade of Theranos in your world, this conversation offers a playbook: verify, name what matters, and take the next right step. If this resonated, follow the show, share with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a review to help others find it. Want Tyler to speak to your team about cultivating courage? Reach out via his site - https://www.tyler-shultz.com/. Or connect on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyler-shultz-450923126/.

    59 min
  8. Life Paths & Dinner Plans With A Side of FOMO (Hold The Cheesecake Factory)

    10/07/2025

    Life Paths & Dinner Plans With A Side of FOMO (Hold The Cheesecake Factory)

    The tiny choices we make every day—where to eat, what to watch, which route to take—should be simple. Yet they balloon into mental marathons, and even after we decide, that nagging “if only” steals our joy. We pull the curtain back on decision regret with stories that feel uncomfortably familiar, a pinch of psychology to name what’s happening in your head, and practical moves you can use tonight. We start with the everyday traps: wandering past a dozen menus, doom-scrolling Netflix until bedtime, and the people-pleasing loop that makes groups drift instead of decide. Then we zoom out to higher-stakes choices like buying a car or changing jobs, where FOMO and counterfactual thinking (“what might have been”) can freeze us in place. Along the way, we share a simple reflection tool inspired by the Decision Regret Scale—questions that help you assess a call, extract the lesson, and let it go without re-litigating it for days. This conversation is warm, candid, and full of useful guardrails. You’ll hear how constraints reduce stress, why deciding early on low-stakes choices boosts energy, and how to judge your process instead of obsessing over every outcome. Whether you’re picking dinner or a direction for your career, the goal is the same: make a clear choice, find the value in whatever follows, and keep moving forward. If you’ve ever lost an evening to overthinking, this one’s for you. If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who overthinks, and leave a quick review—what’s one decision you’ll make faster this week?

    55 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
7 Ratings

About

This is a podcast about the search for simplicity and making life less complicated. A show that dives into both the everyday moments, as well as life's big stuff where we overthink, hesitate, or just get stuck. Through honest conversations, unexpected insights, and a whole lot of potty humor, puns, and hearty laughs - we are here to help you ROLL with it and make life a little less complicated, one conversation at a time. So, come join us in the Stall! Toilet Papewr not provided...yet!  Disclaimer: This podcast is for entertainment, growth, and informational purposes only. Any opinions expressed are those of the hosts and guests and do not reflect the views of any organizations we may be affiliated with. We’re not your therapists, lawyers, doctors, or plumbers, just a few folks talking it out with a roll of humor and a splash of real life. Please don’t make any major life decisions while on the toilet… or at least, don’t blame us if you do.  Show Credits: Show open music by RYYZNRoll Up music by AberrantRealitiesStall Bridge music by penguinmusic

Information

  • Creator
    Complexity
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    19
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Complexity of Toilet Paper
  • Show Website
    The Complexity of Toilet Paper