“Being honest and publicly vulnerable is not the only way to be, but it’s certainly a brave and deeply humane way to be,” so says, Elizabeth Day, Author, Journalist and host of How to Fail podcast.
In 2018, Day launched her interview series asking guests about their failures and exploring how to succeed better. How to Fail’s success led to the publication of non-fiction book, How to Fail: Everything I’ve Ever Learned From Things Going Wrong in 2019. In the book, Day confesses her difficulties with conception and carrying a child to full term. It’s raw, honest and brave.
The content, the conversations, are the pearls of this podcast. In a first season chat with Author Sebastian Faulks you can feel Day’s nervousness as she broaches the topic of failure. Faulks initially dances around the topic until Day deftly encourages him to share his life experiences. Twenty minutes in, Faulks relaxes disclosing in failing to write his conception of a full book, he succeeded in writing his novel Engleby in 2007. Faulks finishes a near hour long chat by acknowledging “you’re flawed by own limitations.”
The episode with Lily Allen is charming and honest discussing miscarriage and confronting the public perception of ‘cartoon Lily’ featured in the media. The interview with Shirlie Kemp is sweet and reveals her struggles with dyslexia, an eating disorder and acceptance of self. And Andy McNab of Bravo Two Zero fame discusses the perception of being a war hero and a survivor of conflict.
How to Fail has been well received by critics and listeners alike. A consistent feature in the Top 3 Arts podcasts on the leading platforms it’s been described by Katie Glass in The Sunday Times as “a fascinating, thoughtful, honest, often moving series of interviews with successful people about the moments when their lives went wrong.” This month Day launches her new book, Failosophy: A Handbook For When Things Go Wrong, and is adapting How to Fail for television.
For this listener, How to Fail has been a comforting and life affirming listening experience, akin to sharing a comforting cup of tea on a rainy day while meeting a new confidant. Day has produced a slick and uncomplicated podcast, with a consistent season advertiser featured at the beginning and end of each episode. Day is also well researched and prepared for each podcast, clearly spending time building relationships pre-interview and the result of her genuine emotional investment in each guest is expressed in their easy rapport.
Day deserves much credit for pursuing a challenging concept. Guests are confronting their shadows on air, the sort of stuff you put in a box and ignore, and the unveiling is both courageous and inspiring. For listeners, I can only say, you can’t fail to miss this podcast.
How To Fail podcast is available wherever you get your podcasts (iTunes or Spotify).
Lisa produces and hosts Holding the Space podcast. In 2019, hosted ‘In Conversation’ sessions with Kerry Hudson, Fiona Gibson and Catherine Simpson at Outwith Festival.
Very passionate about history and ancestry partnering with the Scottish Genealogy Society for the Scottish Ancestral Records podcast recommended by BBC’s Who do You Think You Are? Magazine.