Awesomely Off-Topic: Books, Brands, Business and Everything Else We’re Not Supposed to Say Out Loud

We tried to record a podcast in the car. While it was moving. Honestly? Not our best idea!

In this very weird-sounding episode (why do tyres on tarmac make it sound like we're underwater?!) we talk productivity hacks, outsourcing, books v social media, working in the smallest room and Dee Atkins (makes us do things we don't really want to, does things for us when we won't/don't. High levels of smut and professionalism. Five stars. Would recommend).

Also, you get to experience the unprecedented joy of Asha attempting to park her 'wide' car in a perfectly normal parking space.

Usual audio levels will resume next week!

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✨ Unfiltered. Unedited. Awesomely Off-Topic. New episodes every Tuesday.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more rants, rambles and random brilliance: 👋  @AwesomelyOffTopic, plus our co-hosts @thetazthornton + @ashaclearwater

ADHD Is Not ADHD

ADHD gets talked about as if it’s one thing, with one set of traits and one way of showing up. In real life, that simply isn’t how it works.

In this episode, we talk openly about how ADHD shows up differently in each of us, where we overlap, where we don’t, and how wide the spectrum really is. We share what we’ve learned about our own brains over time, the assumptions we had to unpick, and the practical adjustments that made things easier rather than harder.

We explore the challenges that come from expecting sameness, both in relationships and in work, and why irritation often comes from misunderstanding rather than malice. We also talk about the shift from frustration to curiosity, and how getting interested in how brains and emotions work can change the dynamic completely.

This episode isn’t about labels, hacks, or fixing anyone. It’s about lived experience, difference, communication and learning how to work with each other instead of against each other.

A human conversation for anyone with ADHD, anyone who loves someone with ADHD, or anyone trying to understand why “the same diagnosis” can look so different from one person to the next.

Something you’d love us to know? Send us a message - we’d love to hear from you.

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✨ Unfiltered. Unedited. Awesomely Off-Topic. New episodes every Tuesday.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more rants, rambles and random brilliance: 👋  @AwesomelyOffTopic, plus our co-hosts @thetazthornton + @ashaclearwater

We asked for your topic suggestions and, wow, did you put us to the test?!

This episode's a proper mashup of ideas, opinions and wisdom, from what makes the perfect cuppa to confidence, reincarnation, network marketing, RPGs, books and pet grief - there's probably something for everyone!

Enjoy... and keep those ideas coming in!

Something you’d love us to know? Send us a message - we’d love to hear from you.

Support the show

✨ Unfiltered. Unedited. Awesomely Off-Topic. New episodes every Tuesday.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more rants, rambles and random brilliance: 👋  @AwesomelyOffTopic, plus our co-hosts @thetazthornton + @ashaclearwater

Burnout, Lanes & Capacity

Burnout is often brushed off with phrases like “you’re just tired” or “that’s just adult life”. In this episode, we talk about why that framing misses what’s really going on.

We look at burnout as long-term overload rather than short-term exhaustion, and how it affects energy, focus, emotional regulation and motivation. We explore how this shows up in everyday life and why it is frequently misunderstood, particularly for neurodivergent people.

We introduce a simple way of thinking about work and life through energy lanes rather than one long list of demands. Creative work, people-facing work, admin and recovery all draw on different reserves, and problems tend to build when too much time is spent in one lane without enough variation or recovery.

We also talk about capacity language and how checking in using clear, shared signals can make work and home life easier to navigate. It creates clarity, reduces tension and helps people say what they can manage without things reaching breaking point.

This conversation is about sustainability and self-awareness, not perfection or productivity. It’s for anyone who feels stretched, worn down, or aware that something needs adjusting before things tip too far.

Something you’d love us to know? Send us a message - we’d love to hear from you.

Support the show

✨ Unfiltered. Unedited. Awesomely Off-Topic. New episodes every Tuesday.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more rants, rambles and random brilliance: 👋  @AwesomelyOffTopic, plus our co-hosts @thetazthornton + @ashaclearwater

Everybody knows about Friday the 13th.

Tuesday the 13th has a much longer, stranger history.

This episode landed on that date by accident. We’ll let you decide what you make of that.

We start with triskaidekaphobia and The Thirteen Club – people who deliberately sat thirteen at the table to provoke the reaction it caused. Not because they believed anything bad would happen, but because everyone else did.

From there, the conversation moves into business, pressure, money, launches, and the quiet behaviours people slip into when certainty drops away. Numbers avoided. Habits repeated. Decisions nudged by things that don’t quite make sense on paper.

It’s a conversation about control, discomfort, and pattern-seeking minds doing what they do best when something matters.

No conclusions. No reassurance.

Just an honest look at how humans behave when they don’t feel in control.

Something you’d love us to know? Send us a message - we’d love to hear from you.

Support the show

✨ Unfiltered. Unedited. Awesomely Off-Topic. New episodes every Tuesday.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more rants, rambles and random brilliance: 👋  @AwesomelyOffTopic, plus our co-hosts @thetazthornton + @ashaclearwater

While clearing out a cupboard, we stumbled across an old content plan from years ago. Some of it made us smile, some of it made us wince; what surprised us most was how much of it still holds up.

In this episode, we use that long-forgotten plan as a starting point to explore six themes that keep circling back – around brand, integrity, authenticity, commitment, permission and the stories we so often hold onto... whether they're serving us or not.

Something you’d love us to know? Send us a message - we’d love to hear from you.

Support the show

✨ Unfiltered. Unedited. Awesomely Off-Topic. New episodes every Tuesday.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more rants, rambles and random brilliance: 👋  @AwesomelyOffTopic, plus our co-hosts @thetazthornton + @ashaclearwater

In this episode, we’re pausing at the edge of the year and inviting you to do the same.

We talk about what’s ready to be left behind as we move into 2026 – things like the Comparison Monster, old pressure, and habits that quietly drain our energy – and what’s genuinely worth taking forward instead.

There’s a lot of reflection in this one, and some gentle coaching too, as we encourage you to think about the choices, boundaries and ways of being that will help you feel calmer, happier and more grounded in the year ahead.

No big resolutions. No forced positivity. Just a thoughtful reset, and an invitation to shape a better 2026 on purpose.

Something you’d love us to know? Send us a message - we’d love to hear from you.

Support the show

✨ Unfiltered. Unedited. Awesomely Off-Topic. New episodes every Tuesday.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more rants, rambles and random brilliance: 👋  @AwesomelyOffTopic, plus our co-hosts @thetazthornton + @ashaclearwater

Christmas feels ancient, cosy and untouchable.

It’s also been aggressively meddled with - mostly by the Victorians.

In this episode, we unpack how angels ended up policing the top of the tree, how Christmas pudding started out (you really would NOT have wanted custard with it!), why tinsel wasn't always tacky, and how class, comparison and respectability quietly rewired the season.

This is Christmas traditions through a brand lens - part folklore, part rebrand, part Victorian PR disaster. Also, I think we deserve points for not calling it 'Brand AId: Do They Know It's Christmas?'. Ahem... moving swiftly on...

This is festive, fascinating and just uncomfortable enough to make you look at your tree differently. Get it downloaded, you cheeky little Christmas elf, you! x

Something you’d love us to know? Send us a message - we’d love to hear from you.

Support the show

✨ Unfiltered. Unedited. Awesomely Off-Topic. New episodes every Tuesday.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more rants, rambles and random brilliance: 👋  @AwesomelyOffTopic, plus our co-hosts @thetazthornton + @ashaclearwater

When did Christmas get so loud?

In this episode, we share our gentle rebellion against all the commercialisation, noise and pressure, with a four-part gift philosophy we’re inviting others to play with.

Along the way, we unpack how commercialised Christmas has become, share a handful of festive factoids, and - as ever - go slightly off-piste with a heartfelt (and entirely reasonable) plea to Gillian Anderson to notice us and sponsor the podcast. Gillian, if you’re listening, we adore your G-Spot. Call us! :D

A cosy, thoughtful, gently subversive Christmas episode for anyone who wants this season to feel like something, not just cost something.

Something you’d love us to know? Send us a message - we’d love to hear from you.

Support the show

✨ Unfiltered. Unedited. Awesomely Off-Topic. New episodes every Tuesday.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more rants, rambles and random brilliance: 👋  @AwesomelyOffTopic, plus our co-hosts @thetazthornton + @ashaclearwater

You asked. We answered. No scripts, no prep, no re-dos – just honest, off-the-cuff responses to the questions you’ve been sending our way.

In this AMA episode, we dive into whatever you threw at us: business, branding, visibility, mindset, the messy bits, the funny bits, and the “oh god, did we really just say that?” bits. It’s raw, it’s real, and it’s absolutely Awesomely Off-Topic.

We also put out the call for your next round of questions. If you want us to cover something in a future AMA episode – whether it’s practical, personal or downright bizarre – send it over. We’re game.

Something you’d love us to know? Send us a message - we’d love to hear from you.

Support the show

✨ Unfiltered. Unedited. Awesomely Off-Topic. New episodes every Tuesday.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more rants, rambles and random brilliance: 👋  @AwesomelyOffTopic, plus our co-hosts @thetazthornton + @ashaclearwater