In Episode 50 of the "Direct Your Life" podcast, host and filmmaker Tony Suriano uses the film‑making concept of the "fun and games" beat (beat 8) to show listeners how to craft trailer‑worthy moments in everyday life. He argues that most people drift on autopilot because they miss intentional, novel experiences that make life feel cinematic. Suriano introduces a simple, always‑working tool—travel, whether a multi‑day trip or a 15‑minute alternate route—to inject novelty, spark creativity, and generate enthusiasm. He illustrates the idea with personal anecdotes: a solo motorcycle cross‑country adventure, a daring karaoke performance in Nashville that led to an unexpected connection, and quiet, present moments with his wife under a tree. Drawing on Ed Mylett’s "expand your being" mantra, he encourages listeners to expand their potential by deliberately seeking new experiences. The episode closes with calls to action: join the free Direct Your Life newsletter, check out his forthcoming book Direct Your Life or Someone Else Will (expected end‑2025), and leave a podcast review. Listeners are challenged to schedule at least one novel activity in the coming weeks to create their own fun‑and‑games moments.
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This episode breaks down what your fun and games moments really are and why most people miss them in real life. My wife says this intro sounds like a conspiracy mystery. So I'll stop that voice and I'll just tell you, this show is here to give you some cinematic fuel, tools, and excitement so you can stop drifting and start directing your life. Better than any movie. Episode 50. Yes, I'm excited. Yes, I had to re-record that several times because they sounded even sillier. And yes, I made that with my mouth, that sound effect, because episode 50 is a big deal to me. Welcome in. I'm Tony Soriano, your host. And if you're new here, this podcast is all about directing your life and making your life better than any movie. And I'm a filmmaker, so I will often parallel filmmaking techniques to our life and how we can borrow from them so we can live a life better than any movie. This is part 8 of a 15-part miniseries within this podcast. So if you haven't listened to the last 7, Binge listen because it all applies and works together for you. Now I have a hook I'm gonna throw at you right away, and it is this: if your life was a movie, would the trailer do it justice? This episode breaks down what your fun and games moments really are and why most people miss them in real life. Back, back to filmmaking real quick. There are 15 beats in a film that is great. If you do it right, it works out so much better. And beat 8, we call it the fun and games section. This is the trailer moments. So every film you see when they have the trailer, what, what's there? Action moments, romance, sadness, all the major moments. And we need to document those in our lives. And experience them, be present with them so they stick with us. Because if you just stick on autopilot, you're not really living, right? And if you're here listening, you probably have a pretty good life, exciting, but we can always add those. And we can also assess what we lack and where we need to do better and what new things need to come into our lives. So in a moment, in a few moments, I'm going to share this Simple director's tool, I'm gonna call it. And it's 100% of the time working. And you might do it or you don't do it enough. I love it. And I'm gonna share how it can help you create better trailer moments in your life. And here's the real message. We all have these trailer-worthy moments, but we have to be intentional enough to notice and create them. So if you're bored, if you're stuck or you're stuck in reruns, it's not that your life is all autopilot and sucky. It's just you skipped the intentionality of it all. So I borrowed this phrase from Ed Mylett. He's a great man, to say the least. And he taught me this phrase. Expand your being. And I relate to that so personally because the reason I take on challenges, try to get more trailer moments in my life, is because when I expand my being, it's like me trying to live up to my potential. And I know that's cliché, but we have this gift of life. But so many people and me for sure, certain parts of my life, I just didn't expand. But when I do, when I did, life gets that much better. So are you expanding your being? And if not, how do you do it? What is the number one tool? If someone asked me, hey, Tony, my life is just 9 to 5. I go to work. I'm tired. I watch a movie. I social media. I think social media is now a verb. I social media. I would say, do you want a better life? Do you want enthusiasm? Do you want novelty? Do you want to gently be forced into a new thinking pattern, a new mindset? What do I do to make my life like a movie? Like, I really want some enthusiasm back. I want the reasons back. I would simply tell 'em this one tool. It's super simple and it could be big, it could be small, but it always brings novelty. What is this tool? The tool is travel. Travel is beautiful. Travel is exciting. And it doesn't have to be 15 weeks in a new country. It could be 15 minutes taking a different route home from work. And then you should just include that several times during your week and your month. But I do urge you to take a few days off, go somewhere new, Or a few hours off and go somewhere new. Because when your brain has novelty, what happens? It sparks creativity and enthusiasm. And then that carries in your week. And guess what? Now, when you get home from work, you have a different type of energy. And it comes from that, that spark. I know when I think about my trailer moments in my life, the first couple come to me. I remember taking that solo motorcycle trip across the US for 2 and a half months, and that was a big crazy deal. Yes, I stayed somewhere for maybe 2 weeks, and I stayed somewhere for a week, couple days, but I got to just gently force myself into new situations. And someone like me being an introvert Back then more than now, because I've broken out of the shell more. It really helped, and it was really scary. But I remember moments of going to a karaoke bar in Nashville where there's probably better singers everywhere there than where I came from. And I decided, okay, this is crazy, but I'm going to go on stage and do a karaoke song. No one knows me. Yes, it's scary, but let me just do it. And I had fun with it. I let go. I stopped caring what anyone was thinking, and I just did it to have fun. And I was so proud of myself to do something like that. And then the trailer moment got even better because a beautiful girl walked up to me as I walked off stage. She had a napkin, and written on the napkin said, can you sing the song Somebody To Love from Queen. Melissa. Now, I wasn't about to go up there and try to sing a beautiful Queen song with my voice, but I took the napkin, smiled, had a quick conversation with her, and that was just the height of that trailer moment. I remember small moments as well. The moment just sitting under this tree With my girlfriend then, now my wife. And this speaker was playing this old-time Sinatra music, and I just slowed everything down. I was present. And when we're present, that's a trailer moment. Quick pause. If this resonated with you, I invite you to join the Direct Your Life newsletter. It's free. It comes to your inbox every week with behind-the-scenes lessons, Exclusive content and other free tools designed to make your life better than any movie. Go to tonysuriano.com/directyourlife. And now back to the episode. So those are a few examples. So where are you in your life? If we made a trailer of your life right now, would you be happy with it? Or would you be sad? I don't know. I hope that you're satisfied with your life, but there's always more satisfaction to be had because, as I borrowed from Ed Mylett, you're here to expand your being. Your life is not meant to just be on autopilot in a small little Bubble. It's meant to expand and have fun and share and ripple effect and contribute. That's what we're here. And I know this last few months myself, I have been in a little bubble. I've been doing deep work, creating my new book, Direct Your Life or Someone Else Will. And it's important, meaningful work, but I had to catch myself and realize, wait a minute, I'm just Inside too much, way too much. So I started to venture out a little more and it brought new enthusiasm. I took a break from the book and it really gave me the fuel I needed. So that's the tool. And the challenge is, what can you do this next couple weeks, whether it's a full day, a full hour, 10, 15 minutes driving home from work in a different Route. What is it for you? I want you to do that. I want you to try it out. Bring novelty back to your brain. Get the fun and games into your life. So when people ask you, what was your favorite moments about your life? You were like, oh, well, let me share my fun and games trailer moments, cuz I have a bunch. Wouldn't that be great? You do not want to get to the end and go, dang. Do I have trailer moments? You don't. And I'm gonna say that probably several episodes in the future. I've said it before, but it's so meaningful. Like, you want— you really want to be a great role model for everyone. So it's just a ripple effect. And when you have fun and games and you share it, that's being a, a role model. And there's always someone looking. And it's our job To be the heroes of our own journey. So that's beat 8 in a film and in your life. And there are different moments, different times. You're gonna have big fun and games sections, small ones, but really it has to be intentional or else you're just waiting and hoping, oh, one day someone's gonna ask me on that vacation. Someone's going to give me the opportunity. No, we have to be intentional. We have to be intentional. Now, I expand all about this, all about the 15 beats, much deeper in my new book, Direct Your Life or Someone Else Will. It's not out yet. This is the end of 2025. So if you're listening in 2026, it will be out and you'll be able to grab the book at directyourlifebook.com along with other free tools. that help you direct your life. And if you're enjoying this podcast and finding value here, you're gonna find a tremendous value in the book. Also, just a quick thank you for being here once again. If you will, please go to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review. And if you're on Spotify, drop a comment. Let me know what you think. I wanna hear. And honestly, I, I just don't want my wife to keep making fun of me that No one's commenting. Yeah, but really, this episode 50 has been a pleasure to present to you, and I just wanted to bring some fun and games in your sphere. I wanted you to get awareness. I want more fun and games in my life as well. So this is it. I hope you enjoyed it. Get out there, have some fun and games. Schedule something after this podcast episode. Anything. Just take one action. You never want to leave the scene without taking an action, and that's the challenge to you. Let me know how it goes, and I'll talk to you soon in the next episode.
