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Trash Talk: Where Self-Help Cliches Go to Die

Trash Talk: Where Self-Help Cliches Go to Die

By: Erin Thomas + Erica Breuer
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About this listen

What if the so-called “truths” about growth and success are actually keeping playing small?


On Trash Talk, hosts Erica Breuer and Erin Thomas unpack empty platitudes and tired cliches that dominate the business and personal development world. These ideas might be popular, but that doesn’t mean they’re useful.


Who listens to Trash Talk?

  • Skeptics and Questioners of hollow advice
  • Those asking why self-help advice fails
  • People done with toxic self-help culture
  • Anyone who wants a place to finally talk openly about all the advice that makes you roll your eyes
© 2025 Trash Talk: Where Self-Help Cliches Go to Die
Economics Leadership Management & Leadership Personal Development Personal Success Social Sciences
Episodes
  • "Time heals all wounds.”
    Jun 17 2025

    This isn’t a goodbye: it’s a see you in September.

    We’re taking a well-earned summer break (because seasonal girlies need rest too), but we’re already cooking up a trashier, spicier, more unhinged Season 2.

    In this episode:

    • A heartfelt thank you to our listeners (yes, you, with the fire DMs and existential side-eyes)
    • Listener highlights, PLUS feedback we’re incorporating into next season
    • Why poking at popular ideas isn’t the same as canceling them
    • How to send us the clichés you love to hate



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    5 mins
  • "Steal Like an Artist"
    Jun 10 2025

    Erica and Erin dig into the creative cliché they actually love: “Steal like an artist.” Inspired by Austin Kleon’s book and a long lineage of remix-friendly wisdom, they explore the difference between influence and theft when both humans and AI borrow from what’s come before

    If everything’s an echo, what makes something yours?

    Resources & Mentions:

    Austin Kleon
    Steal Like an Artist
    → Also by Kleon: Show Your Work, Keep Going
    → Website: austinkleon.com

    Julia Cameron
    The Artist’s Way
    → Known for: Morning Pages, creative recovery tools
    → Website: juliacameronlive.com

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    19 mins
  • "Happiness is a Choice" with William Davies
    Jun 3 2025

    If happiness is a choice, let’s talk about who gets to choose it, and who’s just trying to survive a system that tells them it’s their fault they’re miserable.

    Erica and Erin are joined by William Davies, political economist, author of The Happiness Industry, and one of the sharpest critics of how governments and corporations turned happiness into a metric, a mandate, and a market.

    Together, they dig into the cultural scaffolding behind our obsession with happiness: where it comes from, who benefits, and what it’s costing us.

    Connect with William Davies:

    https://williamdavies.blog/

    https://bookshop.org/beta-search?keywords=William+Davies



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    32 mins
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