The Success Myth Diaries: #3 Jeff Hamaoui on Midlife

Announcing a new two book special by me, Emma Gannon, including a free virtual workshop and special intro from Julia Cameron, author of The Artist's Way. **Books are only on sale until midnight on June 4th** Get yours here: poundproject.co.uk/shop/a-year-of-nothing

Welcome back to The Success Myth Diaries. Today's guest is Tim Clare, performance poet, author of two fantasy novels and nonfiction books including WE CAN'T ALL BE ASTRONAUTS, which won Best Biography/Memoir at the East Anglian Book Awards. His latest book COWARD a brilliant book about why we get anxious and what we can do about it (one of my favourite books on anxiety). His podcast Death Of 1000 Cuts, a podcast for readers, writers, and anyone who fancies being a little bit happier while they do those things. In this episode we discuss his three success myths around anxiety, achievement and the myth of the finish line. Hope you enjoy.

Welcome back to The Success Myth Diaries! My guest today is the wonderful Fiona Arrigo who is beloved for her ever-evolving wisdom and heart-based living for the changing times: a visionary in her field, she works globally as a Biodynamic Psychotherapist, Intuitive Healer, Mentor and Life Teacher. She runs The Arrigo Programme which is a profound healing system, developed in conjunction with Fiona’s expert team of practitioners, which you can find out more about here: https://thearrigoprogramme.com. It was so wonderful talking to Fiona about her success myths, about how the world is going through massive change, and how we work together, learn how to rest, and use our own intuition more to guide us.

To accompany the launch of my new book, I have interviewed some of my favourite thinkers on the topic of success, failure and creativity — and the most common success myths. Today’s guest is British actor Sian Clifford, probably best known for playing Claire in Fleabag (the toilet scene! The hair scene! The “the only person I'd run through an airport for is you” line! *chefs kiss*) I have re-watched both seasons of Fleabag so many times and it is Sian who I am totally mesmerised by the most each time. She is also a treasured friend of mine (we’ve seen each other through a lot) and I was so lucky that she even agreed to read the audiobook for my first novel Olive, in the middle of a lockdown, no less!) I am a fan of her work on screen but it’s her writing that also has me feverishly wanting more. I am loving her creative love affair with her Substack, rebooting her project Still Space (first born back in 2015) where she communicates passionately and poetically about culture, art, books, stillness and creativity. I encourage you to have a read. Here Sian discusses her three success myths: the ‘then and when’ theory, the myth of busyness and the myth of perfectionism. Also, how winning a BAFTA doesn’t actually mean you’re on Cloud 9 forever — life and pressures continue on in other ways — aka the arrival myth, which she generously shares with us.

Welcome to the Success Myth Diaries! A brand new mini-series to accompany my new book The Success Myth: Letting Go Of Having It All which is out TODAY. My book unpicks the 8 success myths, from happiness to money to productivity to celebrity to the idea of ‘arriving’, looking at all the different ways traditional success is marketed to us and how it can take us off track to what really makes us personally fulfilled. To celebrate I am interviewing a selection of people I admire about what success means to them, and I’ve asked them to come with their three ‘success myths’ that we will unpick together.