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Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment

How To Fail with Elizabeth Day is a podcast that celebrates the things in life that haven’t gone right and what we might learn from them along the way. Every week, Elizabeth’s guest explores three failures, and what these failures have taught them about how to grow and succeed, better.

We’d love to hear from you! Get in touch with Elizabeth to share your failures, problems or questions - anonymously or otherwise. She'll go through these each week with the help of her very special guests. And remember: a fail shared is a fail halved. https://forms.sonymusicfans.com/campaign/how-to-fail-uk-2023/

An Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Original Production. 
Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow @sonypodcasts 
To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com

How To Fail With Elizabeth Day

This episode contains description of addiction, eating disorders and discussion of suicide. 

Our guest today is the pioneering comedian, actor and activist Margaret Cho. She began performing comedy as a teenager, opening for Jerry Seinfeld at just 14, before becoming one of the most influential stand-ups of her generation.

Now in her 50s, Margaret reflects in this episode on the cancellation of her groundbreaking sitcom, All-American Girl, and the surreal "miscalculations" of a network that hired consultants to ensure she was "doing Asian right". She speaks candidly about the "mind f***" of being told she was "too fat to play herself", which triggered a dangerous spiral into disordered eating, 90s diet drugs and eventual kidney failure.

She opens up about a suicidal near-death experience that she was initially too afraid to admit even to herself - and about the intervention by friends that finally led her to sobriety.

This conversation explores shame, rage and the life-saving importance of humour. Because, as Margaret says, sometimes laughter can be the thing that keeps you breathing.

✨ IN THIS EPISODE:

00:00 Introduction

04:37 Childhood Reflections

06:59 Political and Social Commentary

10:43 The Sitcom Experience

18:35 Body Image and Health Struggles

26:13 Legacy and Influence

26:54 The Struggle with Diet Culture

28:34 Embarrassing Moments on Stage

32:10 Family Influence on Weight Issues

33:22 Seeking Help and Therapy

34:05 Childhood Abuse and Its Impact

37:27 Battling Drug and Alcohol Addiction

43:09 Intervention and Recovery

46:51 Finding Hope and Happiness

💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER:

You carry the otherness with you as a kind of residual suffering that's still there.

Shame is such an electric emotion. It really ignites your history and gets to the core of who you are. I think that's vital as an artist and also it improves your art if you can somehow rise above it.

Humour is really hope. Humour and laughter is the intake of breath, which is the preservation of the body for the next moment.

The more deep work that you do, the more pain you've endured, the more you can share with the world.

🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS:

When life is difficult, Samaritans are here – day or night, 365 days a year. You can call them for free on 116 123, email them at jo@samaritans.org, or visit www.samaritans.org to find your nearest branch.

Margaret Cho’s Choligarchy Comedy Tour

Join the How To Fail community: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Elizabeth’s Substack: https://theelizabethday.substack.com/

📚 WANT MORE?

Monica Lewinsky - on public shame, misogyny and learning how to reclaim your story after being defined by one moment swap.fm/l/jD3LnWFLZq4jRqSX1yQ9 

Lily Allen - on addiction, recovery and rebuilding self-worth under intense public scrutiny https://link.chtbl.com/7f_TpEQ6

Phoebe Waller-Bridge - on Fleabag, creativity and learning to trust your own voice https://link.chtbl.com/Vmnz_IXz

💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE?

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts

Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories

👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth:

Instagram: @elizabday

TikTok: @howtofailpod

Podcast Instagram: @howtofailpod

Website: www.elizabethday.org

Elizabeth and Margaret answer live audience questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com 

Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan 

Engineer: Matias Torres

Assistant Producer: Suhaar Ali

Senior Producer: Joanna Clay

Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot

Executive Producer: Alex Lawless

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. 

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Margaret Cho - They Told Me I Was Too Fat To Play Myself

Money worries are far more common than we like to admit: from keeping you awake at night to quietly shaping your choices and decisions, financial anxiety affects us all - especially after a season of festive indulgence. 

In this episode, comedian Fern Brady (recorded live in Edinburgh) speaks about not having enough money to stay at university - and the unconventional ways she earned a living to keep going. 

Media mogul Simon Cowell reflects on going bankrupt in his late twenties and how he *still* worries about money even now because of the fear that he’ll have to start again from scratch.

Together, these conversations explore financial failure, resilience and the belief that setbacks don’t have to define what comes next. We hope they offer reassurance to anyone feeling overwhelmed by money issues right now.

Listen to Fern Brady’s full episode of How to Fail here: http://swap.fm/l/cmeompBv7EHK20enmwbS

Listen to Simon Cowell’s full episode of How to Fail here: http://swap.fm/l/hSwuCNEuZNgnaG20v0yB

🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS:

Elizabeth’s Substack: https://theelizabethday.substack.com/ 

Join the How To Fail community: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE?

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts

Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories

👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth:

Instagram: @howtofailpod @elizabday

TikTok: @howtofailpod @elizabday

Website: www.elizabethday.org

Join Elizabeth Day for a special How to Fail live show at Crossed Wires Festival in Sheffield! Tickets on sale now: https://crossedwires.live/podcast/how-to-fail

Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com 

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. 

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

ON MONEY WORRIES… With Fern Brady and Simon Cowell

Bear Grylls has achieved worldwide fame as one of the most recognised faces of survival and outdoor adventure. A former SAS soldier, he has climbed Everest, circumnavigated the British Isles on a jet ski, rowed naked in a bathtub along the Thames and once broke his back in a parachuting accident. 

But he's most famous for his TV career. He starred in seven seasons of the Discovery Channel’s Emmy Award-nominated Man vs. Wild TV series and hosted Running Wild, which has featured Bear taking President Obama, Julia Roberts, Roger Federer, Will Ferrell, Channing Tatum, and Kate Winslet on extreme adventures.

Bear is thoughtful, open and surprisingly gentle. This conversation will make you reflect on resilience, bravery and what it really means to keep moving forward when things fall apart.

✨ IN THIS EPISODE:

00:00 Introduction

03:00 Living with nerves and self-doubt

07:12 Public success versus private fear

13:45 Losing his father and learning to live with grief

18:10 Breaking his back and rebuilding confidence

23:40 Faith, inner voices and self-belief

29:05 Courage, fear and moving towards the difficult things

35:20 Failing SAS selection and earning confidence

41:00 TV failure, risk and starting again

46:40 Why giving up is the only real failure

💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER:

The only real failure is when we give up.

You can't be a brave person without the fear... just not having fear and doing it mindlessly is- that's just stupidity. That's not courage.

Those failures are the stepping stones. They’re the scars I’m proud of.

The truth is we tend to stand on the shoulders of many. Beautiful people and giants who've helped us and been kind to us and encouraged us, and supported us and elevated us over themselves.

🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS:

Never Give Up by Bear Grylls

Join the How To Fail community: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Elizabeth’s Substack: https://theelizabethday.substack.com/

Join Elizabeth Day for a special How to Fail live show at Crossed Wires Festival in Sheffield! Tickets on sale now: https://crossedwires.live/podcast/how-to-fail

📚 WANT MORE?

Mo Gawdat - on grief, resilience and rebuilding life after loss https://link.chtbl.com/fnA5IzTi

Tom Daley - the Olympic diver talks about pressure, fear and public failure, alongside the discipline and mental strength it takes to keep showing up at the highest level. https://play.megaphone.fm/deiztbmwsrw-vz5by9ajtw

Matt Haig - the bestselling author on mental health, survival and learning to keep going through periods of despair, anxiety and self-doubt https://link.chtbl.com/u2XVtjE7

💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE?

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts

Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories

👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth:

Instagram: @elizabday

TikTok: @howtofailpod

Podcast Instagram: @howtofailpod

Website: www.elizabethday.org

Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com 

Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan 

Engineer: Matias Torres

Assistant Producer: Suhaar Ali

Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot

Executive Producer: Alex Lawless

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. 

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Failure Throwback: Bear Grylls

This episode contains very strong language and isn’t suitable for small ears. 

Sophie Willan is a double BAFTA award-winning writer, comedian and actor, perhaps best known for her BBC comedy drama, Alma's Not Normal. But it wasn’t always red carpets and award ceremonies. Willan experienced an unsettled childhood with spells in foster care, which she talks openly about in this episode. We also talk about a failed Edinburgh show that coincided with an ‘intense’ relationship and what these experiences taught her. Moving, funny and honest, this episode was recorded in front of a lovely live audience at The Lowry in Salford, Manchester.

✨ IN THIS EPISODE:

00:00 Introduction 

02:00 Alma's Not Normal: Success and Challenges

03:00 The Emotional Toll of Comedy

03:55 Awards and Recognition

05:03 Personal Struggles and Triumphs

08:43 Reflections on Care Experience

14:39 Family Stories and Humor

23:46 The Fine Line Between Madness and Comedy

24:49 A Disastrous Improv Show

26:55 The Novice Detective: A Misplaced Comedy

27:55 Facing Criticism and Misogyny in Comedy

31:32 Stories of Care: Empowering Voices

32:27 The Edinburgh Experience: Highs and Lows

38:06 Writing Process: Chaos and Creativity

💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER:

We're all quite funny in my family though. It's like a family of emotionally deranged people that have a good sense of humour.

You spend the first half of your life unpicking what you inherited and the second half building something better.

Sad things are funny, and funny things are sad, that’s just how the world is.

🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS:

You can watch Alma’s Not Normal on BBC iPlayer

Listen to Sophie Willan’s episode on Where There’s a Will There’s a Wake

Stories of Care founded by Sophie Willan

Join the How To Fail community: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Elizabeth’s Substack: https://theelizabethday.substack.com/

Join Elizabeth Day for a special How to Fail live show at Crossed Wires Festival in Sheffield! Tickets on sale now: https://crossedwires.live/podcast/how-to-fail

📚 WANT MORE?

Mae Martin - comedian, writer and actor on identity, anxiety and learning to trust yourself without external approval https://link.chtbl.com/F50L9kqQ

Adeel Akhtar - on self-doubt, feeling like an outsider and how success can change your sense of belonging swap.fm/l/eWxKBXUJZAAkfovquzwi

Fern Brady - the comedian and author on class, misogyny and neurodivergence. http://swap.fm/l/cmeompBv7EHK20enmwbS

💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE?

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts

Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories

👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth:

Instagram: @elizabday

TikTok: @howtofailpod

Podcast Instagram: @howtofailpod

Website: www.elizabethday.org

Elizabeth and Sophie answer live audience questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com 

Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan 

Engineer: Matias Torres

Assistant Producer: Suhaar Ali

Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot

Executive Producer: Alex Lawless

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. 

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sophie Willan - From Foster Care to Alma’s Not Normal

Fashion icon Bella Freud on abandoning psychics, learning to trust herself and realising that what happens next is entirely up to her.

Freud is a designer and creative whose clothes have adorned the likes of Zadie Smith, Kate Moss, Little Simz and…well…me. She’s also a cult podcaster with her hit show, Fashion Neurosis, where guests are invited to examine what clothes mean to them.

She’s lived a fascinating life: the daughter of Lucian Freud, the great-granddaughter of psychoanalyst Sigmund and the sister of novelist Esther who wrote the novel Hideous Kinky about their childhood. Now in her 60s, she joins me to explore why she’s always late, why she regrets never joining the circus and what it’s really like carrying the weight of such an instantly recognisable family name. Plus: why she no longer goes to psychics.

Bella is so smart, considered and stylish. This free-ranging conversation will make you think, laugh and feel unexpectedly hopeful about getting older. 

✨ IN THIS EPISODE:

00:00 Introduction 

04:04 The Power of Fashion and Design

06:47 Challenges in the Fashion Industry

11:52 The Significance of Punctuality

17:02 Childhood Memories and Their Impact

22:18 Therapy and Family Loss

26:13 Reflecting on a Peaceful Passing

27:43 Family Dynamics 

30:04 The Circus Job That Never Was

32:33 Sibling Relationships and Childhood Roles

36:06 The Legacy of the Freud Name

41:23 Embracing Failures and Life Lessons

46:28 Living Authentically and Joyfully

💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER:

This whole thing about failure of course, is that you can fail and try again

What's going happen is what I make happen, so get on with it

The key is to stay and finish and then the whole level of reward is so much greater

Being late is an incredibly aggressive thing to do 

🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS:

You can listen to Fashion Neurosis wherever you get your podcasts and it’s also available to watch on YouTube 

Bella’s photo is by Lynette Garland (2025)

Join the How To Fail community: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Elizabeth’s Substack: https://theelizabethday.substack.com/

📚 WANT MORE?

Bernardine Evaristo - the Booker Prize-winner talks about persistence, manifestation and making art on your own terms swap.fm/l/PszltDAfnTF5EpG0UmE7 

Trinny Woodall - on the setbacks she’s faced in business, single parenthood and fertility swap.fm/l/fJVwewwLr5xEOE1zLroZ 

Edward Enninful - the former editor of British Vogue and an influential figure in fashion explores his journey through the industry. We talk about his challenges around diversity, identity and health swap.fm/l/NOAt5NDZeBTgX6qZUWpB 

💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE?

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts

Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories

👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth:

Instagram: @elizabday

TikTok: @howtofailpod

Podcast Instagram: @howtofailpod

Website: www.elizabethday.org

Elizabeth and Bella answer live audience questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com 

Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan 

Engineer: Matias Torres

Assistant Producer: Suhaar Ali

Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot

Executive Producer: Alex Lawless

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. 

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bella Freud - Learning To Trust Herself

I’ve always been obsessed with friendship - how it shapes us, challenges us and often goes uncelebrated. In this episode, both Dawn French and Vogue Williams get honest about the beauty and the messiness of it all.

Despite being surrounded by great friends, Vogue explains why she worries she’s not the best friend back - although she’s definitely working on it. Dawn then reflects on growing up as an RAF kid. Repeated moves meant she learned early on how hard it can be to build and keep connections. She also talks about her iconic friendship with Jennifer Saunders (which did *not* start smoothly) and the people she holds closest today.

My fascination with the subject runs so deep that I even wrote a whole book about it! Friendaholic: Confessions of a Friendship Addict explores why friendship matters and how it evolves over our lives. Feel free to buy a copy for you…and all your friends!

Listen to Dawn French’s full episode of How to Fail here: swap.fm/l/NJDrzxLKhyi6icOrxmHT

Listen to Vogue Williams’ full episode of How to Fail here: swap.fm/l/KdIrVp0y41qgun1oGjfR 

🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS:

Elizabeth’s Substack: https://theelizabethday.substack.com/ 

Join the How To Fail community: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE?

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts

Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories

👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth:

Instagram: @howtofailpod @elizabday

TikTok: @howtofailpod @elizabday

Website: www.elizabethday.org

Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com 

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. 

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

ON FRIENDSHIP… With Dawn French and Vogue Williams

You might know the star of Rivals for his revealing role in the hit Disney+ show, but did you know about his dramatic allium allergy?! I thought not. 

Alex Hassell might be best known for his portrayal of the dashing bounder, Rupert Campbell-Black in the Emmy-Award winning TV adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s Rivals but his career spans the Royal Shakespeare Company, a leading role opposite Anya Taylor-Joy in The Miniaturist, HBO’s His Dark Materials and co-founding the pioneering Factory Theatre Company.

In this conversation, Alex reflects on the role therapy and his marriage have played in weathering early-career rejection. We talk about his struggle with self-confidence, his unlikely ’failure’ to get into trouble and the rebellious streak that defined his youth - including that time he took acid at Alton Towers. Plus: having to spray tan his own private parts.

This episode was recorded live at the Barbican earlier this year.

✨ IN THIS EPISODE:

00:00 Intro

03:17 Season Two of Rivals

04:35 The Challenges of Acting

05:28 Therapy and Self-Reflection

11:17 Overcoming Self-Doubt

13:31 School Experiences and Bullying

20:13 The Factory Theater Company

23:31 Reflecting on Early Career Challenges

23:57 The Onion Allergy Struggle

28:16 Balancing Historical Accuracy and Sensitivity in 'Rivals'

29:30 The Pressure to Be Good

33:12 Family Influence and Personal Growth

40:57 The Actor's Vulnerability and Connection

💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER:

To withstand being an actor, you have to have very, very thick skin.

I am really drawn - for some perverse reason - to parts that intimidate me and that I think I'm probably not capable of playing.

I think that acting sometimes can be a bit like being in an abusive relationship in that you feel like the most important and the best... And then it's just taken away and no one wants you and they're not interested and it's like you're a piece of shit.

🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS:

Join the How To Fail community: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Elizabeth’s Substack: https://theelizabethday.substack.com/

Head shot credit: Morgan Robins

📚 WANT MORE?

Dame Jilly Cooper - on bonking, class, adoption and the real-life inspiration for Rupert Campbell-Black https://link.chtbl.com/rjl6Slav 

Andrew Scott - on bad auditions and his failure to be heteronormative https://link.chtbl.com/18dVhMb_ 

Sharon Horgan - on the impact of divorce and the liberation of being in your 50s https://link.chtbl.com/hR7kycoN 

💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE?

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts

Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories

👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth:

Instagram: @elizabday

TikTok: @howtofailpod

Podcast Instagram: @howtofailpod

Website: www.elizabethday.org

Elizabeth and Alex answer live audience questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com 

Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan 

Engineer: Matias Torres

Assistant Producer: Suhaar Ali

Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot

Executive Producer: Alex Lawless

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. 

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Alex Hassell - Rivals, Rejection and Taking Acid at Alton Towers

Perspective is something we all chase - because when it slips, life can feel chaotic and overwhelming. But when we find it again, everything becomes a little clearer.

In this episode, actor Adeel Akhtar reflects on a time when he lost sight of perspective and how becoming a parent helped him rediscover what truly matters.

Cricketing great Pat Cummins shares how the loss of his beloved mum reshaped his relationship with sport and why he’s now more determined than ever to put family first.

Listen to Adeel Akhtar’s full episode of How to Fail here: swap.fm/l/eWxKBXUJZAAkfovquzwi 

Listen to Pat Cummin’s full episode of How to Fail here: swap.fm/l/DecJN4jHYh5gSeSUN72t 

🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS:

Elizabeth’s Substack: https://theelizabethday.substack.com/ 

Join the How To Fail community: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE?

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts

Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories

👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth:

Instagram: @howtofailpod @elizabday

TikTok: @howtofailpod @elizabday

Website: www.elizabethday.org

Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com 

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. 

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

ON PERSPECTIVE… With Adeel Akhtar and Pat Cummins

I don’t often have repeat guests on How To Fail but Mo Gawdat is the exception. When he first came on this podcast in 2019, he fundamentally changed my mindset and my approach to life.

Back then, he was on a mission to make 1 billion people happier. Now, he returns to focus his brilliant philosophical and analytical brain to the perpetual human question: how to find true love, then nurture and sustain it.

He joins me to discuss the three most frequent mistakes we make in love - and to explain how AI could be the saving of us. Mo is about to launch a game-changing AI-powered app called Emma that promises to help us all navigate the dating game with compassion and insight. This is the first time Mo has spoken in depth about this revolutionary new app so, yes, that IS a How To Fail exclusive, no biggie. 

✨ IN THIS EPISODE:

00:00 Introduction 

04:29 Personal Growth and Relationships

05:40 Heartbreak and Grief

10:03 Reflections on Love and Breakups

18:12 The Complexity of Modern Dating

21:45 Introducing Emma: The AI for True Love

29:53 The Mathematics of Dating

30:33 The Law of Large Numbers in Love

32:54 Dating Fatigue and Its Consequences

33:39 Game Theory in Relationships

36:52 AI's Role in Modern Relationships

39:15 The Economics of Love and Relationships

47:52 Finding Contentment Amidst Global Chaos

💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER:

Heartbreak is very similar to a terminal diagnosis, followed by grief.

Falling in love is very easy. The trick is how realistic are you about falling in love with the right person?

When you go on a date with a mindset that says “It's not going to work”, it's definitely not going to work.

🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS:

Check out Mo Gawdat’s new relationship app: emma.love

Join the How To Fail community: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Elizabeth’s Substack: https://theelizabethday.substack.com/

📚 WANT MORE?

Mo Gawdat - his first appearance on How to Fail (in 2019!) sparked infinite chatter in the HTF space, covering grief, finding happiness and how to cope with a breakup https://link.chtbl.com/fnA5IzTi 

Alain de Botton - reflects on how to stay human during a crisis, embracing vulnerability, acknowledging grief without comparing pain and “turning on the light” in your fears so they lose their power https://link.chtbl.com/RBaS4VUy

Stephen Grosz - argues that real love causes suffering and embracing those painful failures helps us grow, surrender (not submit) in relationships and see ourselves and others more clearly swap.fm/l/1XYvcQR4PRi06YpBC3RA 

💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE?

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts

Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories

👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth:

Instagram: @elizabday

TikTok: @howtofailpod

Podcast Instagram: @howtofailpod

Website: www.elizabethday.org

Elizabeth and Mo answer YOUR questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com 

Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan 

Engineer: Matias Torres

Assistant Producer: Suhaar Ali

Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot

Executive Producer: Carly Maile

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. 

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mo Gawdat - The 3 BIGGEST Mistakes We Make In Finding Love

We don’t talk about this enough, even though so many of us face it personally or through someone we love.

Real Housewives of New York star, Jessel Taank, opens up about her three-year journey to become a mum; the strain it put on her marriage, the financial toll and the moments during five rounds of IVF when she questioned everything - even whether she truly wanted motherhood. And then… she had twins.

Paloma Faith also shares her own IVF experience, from the loneliness and an ectopic pregnancy to postpartum psychosis and depression after her first baby. Today, she’s a mum of two and recently announced she’s expecting her third.

As someone who’s been through IVF myself, I hope this episode offers comfort, connection and a reminder that you’re not alone - no matter where you are on this journey.

Listen to Jessel Taank’s full episode of How to Fail here: https://tinyurl.com/jesseltaank 

Listen to Paloma Faith full episode of How to Fail here: https://play.megaphone.fm/rq-vrlg6sla2hyboi6znkq 

🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS:

Elizabeth’s Substack: https://theelizabethday.substack.com/ 

Join the How To Fail community: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

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How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. 

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