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My guest today is Sarah Knight, the New York Times Bestselling author of the "No Fucks Given Guides". Before writing and releasing her own books, she spent 15 years as a top editor, working with authors such as Gillian Flynn and Jessica Knoll. 

In her books, she gives tough love and honest advice on setting goals, boundaries, mental health, making big decisions, and getting organised. Her book was called The Life Changing Magic Of Not Giving A Fuck, then Get Your Shit Together, then You Do You. Her fourth book, all about dealing with anxiety called Calm The Fuck down.

We talk about her decision to quit her publishing job, why she moved to the Dominican Republic, how to say no, how to stop comparing and why you shouldn't care what about people think.

Some favourite quotes from the episode:

"Marie Kondo's books are about unburdening yourself from ~stuff~ - I thought, 'I could do this for your mind.'"

"I just don't care if people don't like me. I think I'm pretty awesome."

"I'm the pied piper of not giving a fck"

"I'm not out here advising anyone to be assholes or sociopaths, I'm just saying it's OK to live your life the way you want to live it."

"If you are choosing to punch yourself in the gut each morning by looking at stuff [online] that makes you feel bad about yourself, then stop doing it. I have very little patience for that kind of self-sabotage."

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Today's episode is with the brilliant Oscar-nominated actor Richard E. Grant. He is best known for his roles in Gosford Park (2001), Withnail & I (1987) and Hudson Hawk (1991) and my personal FAVE Spice World: The Movie (1997). He has worked with some of America's greatest directors, such as Robert Altman, Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese.

He will appear in Star Wars in 2019 in a currently undisclosed part. In this episode, we chat about Richard's part in the fantastic film Can You Ever Forgive Me? where he plays the real-life character Jack Hock alongside Melissa McCarthy which has earned him an Academy Award, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, as well as winning a New York Film Critics Circle Award. The film is based on the book of the same name by Lee Israel and well worth a read.

Apologies that this episode is a little shorter than usual, but I hope you enjoy this episode!

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

​Bella is a freelance journalist from London. She has written for The Guardian, VICE and Vogue among other publications. In 2017, she wrote a brilliant piece on being happy being single at the age of 30 for Vogue. This year, she wrote the hit bestseller "Jog On: How Running Saved My Life" and she married BBC breakfast host Greg James.

In Jog On, Bella explains with hilarious and unfiltered honesty how she used running to battle crippling anxiety and depression, without having to sacrifice her main loves: booze, cigarettes and ice cream. With the help of a supporting cast of doctors, psychologists, sportspeople and friends, she shares a wealth of inspirational stories, research and tips that show how exercise often can be the best medicine. This book will encourage you to say ‘jog on’ to your problems and get your life back on track – no matter how small those first steps may be. We discuss running, mental wellbeing and how to help a friend who is struggling.

Hope you enjoy this episode!

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My guest today is the lovely Rachel Khoo - chef, food writer, broadcaster and founder of Khoollect which she describes as "a creative studio based in London and online community celebrating inspiration found in unlikely places".

At 26, Rachel left her London job working in PR to move to Paris and learn to bake and follow her gut (and heart). According to The Times, she contacted Penguin with the idea for the Little Paris Kitchen cookbook in 2012, which has since gone on to be translated into 12 languages, which also led to a BBC Two series, pulling in almost 2million viewers. 

She's just released her sixth cookbook, called The Little Swedish Kitchen and Rachel is currently filming her eighth television series. She co-hosts Zumbo’s Just Desserts which aired in during summer 2016 and is now screening around the world on Netflix.

In this episode we talk about her interesting career path, why she loves living in Sweden, her newest cook book The Little Swedish Kitchen and why it's OK to be proud of your work and be different.

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Caroline O’Donoghue is an Irish author, musician and podcaster living in South London. In this episode we chat about her brilliant novel Promising Young Women. She is a Contributing Editor for The-Pool.com where she has also worked previously as a writer and social media editor, and is now a columnist for The Times Ireland, and has written for Glamour, Grazia and Buzzfeed, among others. She also co-hosts the podcast School for Dumb Women and her new podcast called Sentimental Garbage which is a show dedicated to discussing romance fiction or commercial women’s fiction. 

Caroline’s debut novel, Promising Young Women, was published by Virago in 2018 to rave reviews and was shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards 2018 for 'Newcomer of the year'. The paperback of Promising Young Women is coming out on March 7th this year so make sure you pre-order your copy now.

In this episode we talk about novel writing, #MeToo, the importance of nuanced conversation, how she presented the internet within her novel and why thinks it's important that we all reclaim the term 'chick lit'.

Her second novel will be published in 2020. Having followed her work online for years it was so nice to sit down and chat. Hope you enjoy this one!

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The comedian Joanne McNally is one of my favourite new discoveries from the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She burst onto the Irish comedy scene in 2014 and in less than a year became the co-host on RTÉ 2’s flagship comedy show Republic of Telly, co-wrote and starred in the stage show Separated At Birth a comedy about her adoption and performed sold out solo stand up shows all over Dublin. She's been nominated for multiple Dublin Fringe Festival awards including Best Performer and Best Production and been a guest on many late night TV shows.

Now, she's signed with famous comedy management Off The Kerb, and moved to London! We sat down in her offices to have a chat about everything, from how she got into comedy, how she finds inspiration for her shows, how to handle tough crowds, and her struggles from body image to break ups.

I love this episode and hope you do to!

Quotes:

"i don't want to be very PC. I'm not a worthy comic. I'm not trying to make a massive point about anything. I just want to have a good time, and I want my audience to have a good time."

"I have earnest fatigue." 

"i don't want to be one of those tragedy tourists who are just constantly rolling out their sad stories to get likes."

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Bruce Daisley is the European Vice-President at Twitter and host of the business podcast Eat Sleep Work Repeat.  He has been one of the Evening Standard’s 1,000 Most Influential Londoners for four years and is one of Debrett’s 500 Most Influential People in Britain. according to Campaign magazine Bruce is ‘one of the most talented people in media’. He's just written a book 'The Joy Of Work: 30 Ways to Fix Your Work Culture and Fall in Love with Your Job Again' comes out in January on Blue Monday.

He is obsessed with making work better. He's dedicated his last few years to chatting to the leading experts in workplace culture - and using evidence to find a way to improving it.

It's a practical, uplifting, helpful book all about making the workplace a bit better, which is important considering we spend so much time there.

We discuss:

- The story behind 'Love Where You Work' signs inside Twitter HQ

- The power of laughter at work

- Why 'crisp Thursday' is genius

- Why you should cut all meetings in half

- We discuss this piece "Why ‘Do What You Love’ Is Pernicious Advice

 https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/08/do-what-you-love-work-myth-culture/399599/ 

- The importance of boredom when it comes to creativity 

Quotes:

'I'm convinced people don't read books, so I made 30 things. If all that happens is that someone is rips out one chapter and gives it to their team then it's been successful. Arm people with facts."

"In truth, most people in work are probably more exhausted than they'd like to admit."

'if you look at the science, if you are stressed, you can't be creative."

"Unlike the iPhone, no one is going to unveil the new version of work"

"50 hours a week is all that human brain can do."

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The amazing Deborah James is a campaigner and co-presenter of the top-charting podcast You, Me and the Big C, which takes listeners through every twist and turn, showing how you can still live your life and be yourself with cancer.

Deborah was a deputy head teacher before at the age of 35, being diagnosed with bowel cancer and her life with her young children and husband was thrown upside down. She’s had 4 major operations including bowel and lung resections and multiple rounds of chemo – and is still undergoing treatment at the Royal Marsden. She started a blog called 'Bowel Babe’ to debunk the myth that young women don't get bowel cancer and writes a weekly column for the Sun online, "Things Cancer Made Me Say". She campaigns alongside major UK cancer charities, writes and presents the popular podcast ‘You, Me & the Big C’ for BBC’s Radio 5 Live, and has a built up a strong following on Instagram, please follow her: @bowelbabe.

Debora's book 'F**k You Cancer' is out now, an inspiring cancer guide that encourages you to shout #F*CKYOUCANCER.

I found this episode so inspiring and moving and informative and I hope you do too.

You can find Deborah on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/bowelbabe/

Her book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/You-Cancer-face-still-yourself/dp/178504205X

Podcast 'You Me & The Big C": https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0608649

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My guest today is the brilliant Selina Barker who is a life design coach, author of the Goodbye Journal, and co-founder of Project Love - a mission to help busy women to create lives and relationships they love.

Over the past 12 years she has coached the brightest minds and talent from Google, Apple, UN Women and MySpace, A-list musicians and leaders in the creative and music industries, helping them to create lives, careers and businesses that they can thrive in.

Over the past 5 years her focus has been on Project Love with her business partner, Vicki Pavitt. It is a go-to platform for people looking for heartfelt, practical guidance on love and life. they offer a mix of online courses, coaching and life design tools, including the Goodbye Hello journal. with is one of my favourite journals and we discuss it in detail on the podcast. It helps you reflect and look ahead in the best possible way.

Through a series of questions and exercises, you’ll be guided to get clear on the life you want to live in 2019, the dreams you want to bring to life and a simple plan for how you’re going to make it all happen. Your Goodbye 2018, Hello 2019 will then become your guide for designing a life you love in 2019, with quarterly check-ins to help you keep on track throughout the year.

Hope you enjoy this episode with Selina.

Here's all the links you need to stay in touch with Project Love!

https://loveprojectlove.com/

https://thegoodbyehellojournal.com

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/project-love-podcast-show/id1131056164?mt=2

https://www.instagram.com/loveprojectlove/

I love this quote from Selina: “Designing your life is about putting yourself as a top priority, not always THE most important thing, but a top priority.”

Whether you’re a first time listener or OG listener please take a few seconds to rate and review – means I can carry on making this as it boosts me in the charts etc!

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