Ed Stott & The Big Life Questions
by Edwina Stott
One big question at a time. Explored, untangled, and (possibly) solved.Self-improvement is everywhere but most of it's overly simplistic, shouty, and backed by vibes, not evidence.I'm Ed Stott, former BBC & ABC journalist turned independent audio doco maker, obsessed with figuring out how to live better. (That obsession once led to 50 stand-up gigs in 6 months… but more on that later.)Each month, I tackle one big, messy life question like "What's my purpose?" or "Should I quit my job?" and get real answers from the world's sharpest minds.No fluff. Just big ideas, explored creatively, to help you make sense of your life.
Episodes
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Should I Quit My Job?
Thinking about quitting, but not sure if you'll regret it? This episode will help you work out whether it's time to leave, or if there's still something worth holding onto. We've all been there: lying awake at night, weighing the costs of staying against the risks of walking away. Do you push...
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The Simple Science to Your Baby's Best Sleep (WITHOUT Sleep Training!!) with Dr Pam Douglas
What if everything you've been told about baby sleep is wrong and the real solution is already built into your baby's biology? Dr. Pam Douglas is the founder of the Possums Sleep Program, a science-backed, sanity-saving alternative to traditional sleep training. In this myth-busting episode, she...
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Forgiveness: How to Let Go, Without Letting Them Off the Hook with Rachael Coopes
What if forgiveness didn't mean forgetting, reconciling, or letting people off the hook — but reclaiming your future? Learning how to forgive — even when it feels like the hardest thing in the world to do — is transformative. It's a complex process, and there's a real art to balancing boundaries...
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What 90s Pop Culture REALLY Taught Us & How to Unlearn It with Sophie Gilbert
What if the pop culture you loved growing up was quietly teaching you to shrink, perform and turn on other women? In this episode, Pulitzer Prize–nominated journalist Sophie Gilbert joins me to revisit the legacy of the 90s and 2000s — a time that likely shaped how you see yourself & other women....
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Reclaim Your Focus: 5 Tiny Shifts to Detox Your Digital Brain
Know your phone is stealing your focus, but don't quite know how to take your back your brain? Here are 5 small, science-backed tweaks that will actually help. In this episode, I'm sharing how I broke the cycle—not with timers or guilt, but with insights from neuroscientists, psychologists, and...
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Why Good Mums Fail More with Victoria Vanstone
Feel like you're failing at motherhood? Maybe you're actually on the right track. In this episode, I chat with author and podcaster Victoria Vanstone about her year of "mumming" — a 12-month mission to try anything and everything to become a better mum. From parenting courses and rage walks to...
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Quit the Job. Start the Thing. Live the Life with Ash Ambirge
Ready to stop asking for permission and start doing the thing you actually want to do? Ash Ambirge is here to hand you the match. 🔥 She's the author of The Middle Finger Project — a book, a movement, and a manifesto for anyone who's tired of playing it small. She's on a mission to help people...
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Pick Yourself: From Rejection to Book Deal with Amie McNee
Tired of waiting for someone to give you a chance? This is how you stop waiting — and start doing. Whether you want to write, launch a project, change careers, or share your work with the world, this episode with author Amie McNee is your go-to guide. She shares how she stopped chasing…
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Tired of Carrying It All? How to Share the Mental Load with Gemma Hartley
Back in 2015, journalist Gemma Hartley wrote an article for Harper's Bazaar that went viral. The article was about emotional labor & it really hit home for so many people - in fact 2 BILLION people read it. It led to Gemma writing a book on the topic & coming up with some real solutions to this...
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The Secret Power of Motherhood That No One Talks About with Ready or Not
I feel like I've levelled up in every single way since becoming a mum. But when I was pregnant, I only saw the negatives of motherhood & it wasn't until I had my baby that I realised the true power of becoming a mum. I invited Lauren & Lucinda from Ready or Not Podcast (where they chat all things...
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My First Year as A Mum & The 6 Things I Wish I'd Known
If you're pregnant or have a new baby - I have some GAME-CHANGERS for you!! I'm coming up on my first year of being a mum and I've learnt so much. In this episode, I've whittled down a year's worth of blood, sweat and tears in to my 6 essentials - there's a couple of reccomendations & a few…
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Why You're a People Pleaser & How to Stop with The Therapy Floor
You might think you're doing it because you're too kind...but you're not (super awks). Today we're going to learn WHY you're a people pleaser & the 3 simple steps that will give you the confidence to make the changes you so badly need to, revolutionise your relationships & give you your energy…
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How to REALLY Listen & Transform Your Relationships with Ross Judd
If you, like me, spend most conversations wondering when it's your time to talk - you're probably not a very good listener. And here's the kicker - it's likely affecting your relationships. In this episode we're going to learn the simple tips to level up our listening & turn it into our ultimate...
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Simple Tools to Ease Overwhelm FOR GOOD with Michelle Gauthier
If you've ever said 'I'll just get through this...& then it will all be fine', this episode is MANDATORY listening. Overwhelmed? Me too! Today we're going to learn the simple systems to ease it once & for all. Michelle Gauthier worked in corporate America for 20 years helping business to simplify...
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No More Food Guilt with Dr Emma Beckett
PSA: Complexity DOESN'T mean complicated!! Today we're going to learn how to take a perfectly imperfect approach to eating - one that will maximise your nutrition, ditch the guilt and ease your food anxiety. Food feels like an area that should be simple but it's often anything but. We are complex...
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Reparent Yourself to Be a Woman Who Likes Themselves with Kasey Edwards
Kasey Edwards has spent the last 10+ years researching & writing about raising kids who like themselves & she's used everything she's learnt to re-parent herself. Now she's on a mission to teach you to do the same. She's rewritten the most common, toxic rules you were likely taught in childhood…
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Reclaim Your Attention as Your Most Powerful Resource with Annie Margaret
Where your attention goes, your focus grows - but are you really conscious of where you're spending your most valuable asset? This episode is going to change the way you use social media & spend time online FOREVER. If you, like me, are grappling with your relationship with the internet, the next...
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Raising Kids with a Healthy Relationship with Food (Even if You Don't Have One) with Leslie Schilling
How can we avoid passing on our own fraught relationship with what we eat? We all need to eat - it's a simple fact of life, yet for so many of us it's a very complicated thing. Even if we are one of the few people who do have an uncomplicated relationship with food, we live in a society saturated...
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5 SUPER Simple Steps to Start Investing with Bryce Leske & Alec Renehan
Spolier alert: you don't need much money, time or a fancy spreadsheet - it's genuinely SUUUUUPER simple. In less than 30 minutes, you'll learn the essentials to start making your money, make money. Women often receive REALLY bad advice when it comes to money - we're often told to scrimp & save...
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Why Being a Good Girl is Limiting Your Life with Dr Michelle McQuaid
This episode is going to shatter the phrase 'good girl' for you FOREVER. You'll see why striving to be a 'good girl' is robbing you of your energy, well-being & even your identity plus learn the research backed strategy on how to set yourself free to live the life YOU want to live. Dr Michelle...
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The Secret to Motivation & Exercise with Leah Barron
This time it's all about figuring out how to exercise CONSISTENTLY in a way that brings you JOY. No more 'punishing' yourself for 60 brutal minutes - we're going to get you moving in a way you've never moved before - it's going to be so fun, you'll find yourself giddy to do it again, rather than...
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The Science of Habits that ACTUALLY Stick with Dr Bree Hurn
We're talking habits - how to start them, stick to them & make sure they're aligned with who you want to be. Anytime I do an episode on habits, you lot absolutely love it - and there's a reason for that - they're the cheatcode for creating the life you want to live. No one knows that better than…
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How to Build a Community & Find Your People with Tilli Conias
Today - we're getting you the blueprint to find YOUR PEOPLE. It's brutal out there - a lot of people talk about how hard dating is now, but finding new friends who are on your wavelength & a community of your own can be just as hard. Fear not though - you know I've got your back. Tilli Conias is…
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Ditch the Diet & Become the Healthiest You EVER with Leslie Schilling
Ready to get off the toxic dieting cycle & start actually eating healthy? You're in the right place because my guest today is THE expert in this. If you're sick of starting the New Year feeling like THIS is the year you stick to the diet only to feel gutted when you inevitably "fall off the…
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The Ultimate Life Hack: Why You Should Stop Trying So Hard
Could life actually be better if you weren't holding it with a death grip!? Often we see so many traits & behaviors as directly tied to our morality - including those around how we look, feel, think and act. But journalist & author Rebecca Seal says many of the things we've been told are bad are...
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Make Your Intuition Your Super Power with Prof Joel Pearson
The nueroscience of intuition & how to hone it as your super power. Professor Joel Pearson is a neuroscientist who's been studying how the brain processes unconscious information for 25 years. He's on a mission to distill the science of intuition into simple, practical rules that are easy to…
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The Neuroscience of Habits with Dr Gina Cleo
How do you form the habits you actually want to commit to & break those ones that are holding you back? Today - I'm going to get you the answer to those questions. My guest is Dr Gina Cleo - she has a whole damn phd in the topic of behavior change and is an adjunct professor at Bond University in...
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Ideas to Cultivate Curiosity & Level Up Your Life with Meena Alexander
When was the last time you got curious about your life? I mean, really curious: stopping to examine your beliefs, the way you work & even why you can never seem to switch off? If you're anything like me the answer is probably never, but curiosity can be a phenomenal catalyst for growth. That's…
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How to Live Authentically & Be Your Truest Self with Kat John
If you've ever felt like you're not quite being true to yourself & you're living the life that's juuuust not quite the one for you, you're going to want to listen to this. My guest today has been there and she's made it her career to help others out of that very tricky spot. Kat John is the host…
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Make ChatGPT Your New Assistant (Even if You're Not Techy) with Leanne Shelton
Programs like ChatGPT can seem overwhelming if you're not tech savvy, but using AI as your shiny new assistant is more simple than you think. If you're yet to put ChatGPT or one of the many other AI to work, you're missing out on the ultimate productivity boosting, time saving tool - all you need...
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How to Worry Better with Prof Kate Sweeny
Worry doesn't get us anywhere, but figuring out HOW to stop worrying is an impossible task, so how can we do it better? Well my guest today is an expert in worry - she's going to talk us through why we do it & how to turn it into something that is actually helpful! Kate Sweeny, is a Professor of...
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Preparing for the Millenopause with Dr Jess Blomfield
If you're a millenial woman, the menopause is likely much closer than you think. So how can you prepare to embrace it rather than endure it? Dr Jess Blomfield says it's completely possible with a little bit of knowledge. In this episode we talk through some of the early signs & symptoms, how to...
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How to Hack Your Dopamine with Dr Anastasia Hronis
Want to know how to get your dopamine working for you instead of against you? It's a powerful driver & with a little knowledge it can be your in-built super power. Dr Anastasia Hronis is a clinical psychologist and the author of The Dopamine Brain, Your Science Backed Guide to Balancing Pleasure...
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How to REALLY Rest & Why You Need It with Claudia Hammond
For something that should be simple, resting is remarkably tricky - so how do we master this lost art? And why should we make it a priority? Well Claudia Hammond has become somewhat of an expert in the topic - she's a psychology lecturer, award winning broadcaster & the author of The Art of Rest:...
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Build Your Multi-Million Dollar Business with Karina Irby
If you have a business idea, or you just know you want to work for yourself but you're not sure how to make it happen, this conversation is for you. You probably have no idea where to start, little to no money, not much business experience & a whole heap of 'what ifs' holding you back from…
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Top 5 Career Dilemmas Solved by Global Career Coach Clare Seeber
Fallen out of love with your job? Can't get an interview? Don't have the right connections? Not sure what to do next? The next 40mins are just for you! Global career coach Claire Seeber is answering your top career dillemas. Claire's first episode resonated with SO MANY of you that she's joined…
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How to Split Your Finances with Nicole Haddow
How do you split them - especially when one of you earns more than the other, if the worst happens - who gets what & how do you talk about them without killing the spark? Today's topic is a contentious one - one that so many couples will have come across & searched for a solution - I'm talking...
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How to Write Your F*** Yes Life Brief with Bonnie Wan
A Life Brief will align your daily actions with your ambition & values. So how do you create one? Bonnie Wan is a brand strategist - she's spent the last three decades helping huge brands like BMW, Pepsi and Heinz get clear about their purpose so they can grow and innovate. Almost 15 years ago…
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The Neuroscience of Manifesting with Prof Joel Pearson
Does manifesting work? Neuroscientist Professor Joel Pearson says yes! Here's why… By this point we're all familiar with the concept of manifesting & if you're listening to this podcast I'm guessing you've tried it too. But as you know our little self improvement club is FIRMLY backed by science…
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5 Steps to Finding Fulfilling Work with Claire Seeber
Being the hardest worker doesn't always pay off. So how do we channel all of that time and effort into something that does? Well Claire Seeber is the author of Less Hustle, More Happy. She's a career consultant who's spent the last 16 years in HR across many roles & multiple countries, she's had…
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Dr Norman Swan on What's Good For Your Kids
Where does your kids' temperament come from, how strict should you be & is it okay to be a 'good enough' parent? Honestly, the last few months have truly humbled me - being a parent is HARD and with so much advice out there, it's VERY tricky to know what's best for your children. So what IS good...
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Aging Against the Machine with Mel Doyle
Aging can be a fairly daunting experience & when the topic comes to mind most of us try to move on and clear it from our thoughts as quickly as possible. But award-winning journalist Melissa Doyle is urging us to take an active role in aging to push back against ageism and make the experience...
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Finding & Reimagining Deep Friendships
So often we prioritize romantic relationships above all others - whether it's searching for a 'soul mate', choosing who we spend our time with or who takes priority in our lives…But according to Rhaina Cohen, the idea that a romantic partner is the only kind of relationship that can fulfill our...
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Secrets from the Science of Toddlers for Happiness & Success
When it comes to role models, toddlers may not be the first people you think of. Their reputation for tantrums, impulsivity, distractedness and general chaos doesn't put them at the top of most people's list. But Hasan Merali says you're wrong. He's a pediatric emergency doctor and the author of...
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Be Bad, Better: How Not Trying So Hard Will Set You Free
Often we see so many traits & behaviors as directly tied to our morality - including those around how we look, feel, think and act. But journalist & author Rebecca Seal says many of the things we've been told are bad are actually just as useful as the good. Her latest book is called Be Bad…
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Cariad Lloyd's Modern Guide to Grief
Grief is one of those things that many of us still have no idea how to talk about. Whether we've lost someone or know someone who has lost someone it can be very uncomfortable to know what to share, when & even how to just broach the subject. This struggle is one Cariad Lloyd knows well. After...
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The Ultimate Couple's Guide To Better Sleep
We all know how essential a good night's sleep can be for our health, but whilst we might be prioritising our bedtime routine, our partner's night time habits may be the thing that's costing us a perfect night's sleep. Whether they're a champion snorer, elite level fidgeter or they just have a...
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How to Fully Embrace Aging
If you're anything like me, ageing is probably something you try not to think about. But it doesn't have to be this way - we can embrace ageing, help to combat ageism & make the most of all the brilliant things that come with it, without denying of course that it's not all wonderful. So how do we...
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How to Build a Science-Backed Skincare Routine with Lab Muffin Beauty Science
A good skincare routine can be a truly fantastic thing, but with SO many products on the market making wild claims, it is incredibly hard to know where you should be focussing your time, not to mention your money. Fear not though, Dr Michelle Wong is here to help - you might know here as Lab…
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The First 2 Hours: How to Maximise your Most Valuable Time
The saying goes - win the morning, win the day. But, if you're anything like me - your morning will be determined by your inbox, who calls first or what's been dropped in your lap that day. Productivity expert Donna McGeorge says this way of working is a big mistake and could see the quality of...
About this show
One big question at a time. Explored, untangled, and (possibly) solved.Self-improvement is everywhere but most of it's overly simplistic, shouty, and backed by vibes, not evidence.I'm Ed Stott, former BBC & ABC journalist turned independent audio doco maker, obsessed with figuring out how to live better. (That obsession once led to 50 stand-up gigs in 6 months… but more on that later.)Each month, I tackle one big, messy life question like "What's my purpose?" or "Should I quit my job?" and get real answers from the world's sharpest minds.No fluff. Just big ideas, explored creatively, to help you make sense of your life.
Hosted by
Edwina Stott