What is the impact on us as human beings when we never have a single spare moment, when we fill every minute with doing something productive, or even looking at our phones in order to kill time? That's a question that gripped Laurence Shorter after he'd written a really successful book and toured it around the world and found himself to be completely burnt out. And that's when Laurence started thinking about the art of having no idea. Laurence is a leadership consultant, an author, comedian and an artist. I've known him for somewhere around a decade when he spoke at my event, Scanners Night, for people with too many ideas and too many interests and lots of creativity. He is a scanner himself, and he has fascinating things to say about being a multifaceted human being and managing his own creative process. Best Wishes, John   For full links and notes please visit:  https://theideaslab.org/laurenceshorter-artofhavingnoidea ______________________________________________________________ Music provided by Argofox: TheDiabolicalWaffle – My Wish https://youtu.be/sRWEMjYR6e4

The Ideas Lab Podcast

Laurence Shorter on creativity, burnout, and the art of having no idea #80

This episode of the podcast is a real adventure. It's one of my favourites. Charlie Thuillier was on a world record breaking kite buggy adventure with his brother Harry in Brazil, when he had a great idea, which was partly inspired by reading my first book, Screw Work Let's Play on a beach in Brazil. That idea was to create the world's first healthy ice cream. Today, Oppo ice cream is a reality. It's a product you can buy in thousands of stores all around Europe, and it's won multiple taste awards. Listen to the interview to find out how Charlie and his brother Harry went from sleeping on the floor of a borrowed office to creating their own successful international food brand. And you can also read more about their story and how Harry and Charlie worked together as a team within the company. In my new book, F**k Work Let's Play   Best Wishes, John   For full links and notes please visit:  https://theideaslab.org/charliethuillier-oppoicecream ______________________________________________________________ Music provided by Argofox: TheDiabolicalWaffle – My Wish https://youtu.be/sRWEMjYR6e4

How Charlie and Harry Thuillier turned their idea for the world’s first healthy ice cream into an international food business #79

A special episode on John’s new bestselling book ‘F**k Work Let’s Play: Do what you love and get paid for it’ and how to get a free ticket to the world’s first F**k Work Day. See fworkletsplay.com for more details on the special offer 

How to attend the world’s first F**k Work Day

If you want to start a movement that changes the way people all around the world think about a particular topic, then this will be a really interesting conversation for you to listen to. Jody Day is the founder of Gateway Women, which has helped millions of women around the world to come to terms with involuntary childlessness. The social enterprise that now has touched millions of women's lives was started in 30 days, in a course I used to run 10 years ago, called The 30 day challenge. Jody is also featured in my new book, F**k Work Let's Play: How to do what you love and get paid for it, as an example of somebody who's created a social enterprise and business around something she is very passionate about. And so I wanted to dive into more detail here about: How she started that business in 30 days with a couple of things that seemed like very small steps, and then how she managed to get through all the setbacks inherent in starting a business. Her own approach to running a social enterprise. How she's managed to scale up far beyond what she could have ever done as an individual psychotherapist. Some of the challenges she ran into when she moved from doing everything completely for free to charging a very modest amount. This is a fascinating conversation that spans the issues of involuntary childlessness right the way to marketing and entrepreneurship. Best Wishes, John   For full links and notes please visit:  https://theideaslab.org/jodyday-gatewaywomen ______________________________________________________________ Music provided by Argofox: TheDiabolicalWaffle – My Wish https://youtu.be/sRWEMjYR6e4

Jody Day on creating a global movement for women and turning her passion into a successful social enterprise #78

When I first met Sam Bombas and Harry Parr over a decade ago, they were just a couple of young guys doing some wacky things with food, including creating breathable cocktails and designer jellies. I thought what they were doing was so interesting and so playful, that I featured them in my first book Screw Worl Let's Play, which was published in 2010. When I checked in with Sam and Harry at the beginning of the year to find out how they were doing, as I set about writing a new version of that book now called F**k Work, Let's Play and published by Pearson imminently, I discovered that they built what were fun experiments with food into an international flavour studio that has worked with some of the biggest brands in the world. If you've ever had a crazy idea that you thought was just too out there, perhaps to make it real. Listen to this interview and get inspired and make your crazy ideas into a real business. Best Wishes, John   For full links and notes please visit:  https://theideaslab.org/bompasandparr-flavourstudio ______________________________________________________________ Music provided by Argofox: TheDiabolicalWaffle – My Wish https://youtu.be/sRWEMjYR6e4

How Sam Bompas & Harry Parr turned their crazy experiments with food into a pioneering international business #77

This is a really powerful episode of the ideas lab podcast. Many of us have ideas about how to change the world for the better. How to take a campaign or a message or cause and make a real impact possibly around the entire world. Few of us achieve that. But Tristram Stuart has done. A few years back, Christian decided that he wanted to gather 5000 people in London's Trafalgar Square and feed them with hearty, healthy food made from ingredients that otherwise would have been thrown in the rubbish. To find out what happened and the impact it had that reverberated around the world, and how it led on to him creating a new beer brand called Toast Ale made from discarded bread slices - listen to this remarkable episode.   Best Wishes, John   For full links and notes please visit:  https://theideaslab.org/tristramstuart-feedingthe5000 ______________________________________________________________ Music provided by Argofox: TheDiabolicalWaffle – My Wish https://youtu.be/sRWEMjYR6e4

How to change the world – with Tristram Stuart #76

If you've ever thought of writing your own book, whether it's a business book, a novel, or a memoir, then this podcast is going to be interesting to you. Laura Gale is an author and editor and a ghostwriter. And in this interview, we explore what those roles actually do. First of all, why do you need an editor if you're writing your own book? And also, why would you use a ghostwriter? How do they work with you to write a book for you, and he's using a ghostwriter cheating. We explore all of that with Laura. Best Wishes, John   For full links and notes please visit:  https://theideaslab.org/lauragale-ghostwriter ______________________________________________________________ Music provided by Argofox: TheDiabolicalWaffle – My Wish https://youtu.be/sRWEMjYR6e4

Laura Gale on editing and ghostwriting your business book #75

Quitting your job to go and do something more creative that you really love doing sounds very tempting. But the reality of it is more complex. How do you transition from a full time job that you're no longer enjoying, to doing something you love full time and getting paid for that? That is not usually a simple process. So I'm really glad that Dan Barker could make it on the podcast and tell his story of how he went from a job in mechanical engineering and transition step by step into becoming a successful photographer with his own studio. Along the way, he describes how he discovered what he wanted to do, how he started experimenting with it and got the confidence to explore his new hobby, and then how he made his first playcheck. And after that, scaling up to make more and more until he could safely walk out of his job and go full time as a photographer. Dan was actually inspired in his journey early on by my first book Screw Work Let's Play, so it's great that when it came to reinventing and recreating that book under the new title, F**k Work Let's Play, but it's being published on Kindle by Pearson on the 30th of August, that he could be included as one of the many case studies of people who are now getting paid to play after following the kind of principles I first wrote about. Best Wishes, John   For full links and notes please visit:  https://theideaslab.org/danbarker-photographer ______________________________________________________________ Music provided by Argofox: TheDiabolicalWaffle – My Wish https://youtu.be/sRWEMjYR6e4

How Dan Barker transitioned from mechanical engineer to full-time photographer #74

If you've ever had a crazy creative idea for a business or project, and then you've talked yourself out of it because you couldn't see where it will go and what the point was, and how you could ever make some money out of it. Well, this is gonna be a great podcast for you. Sarah Weiler, runs a business called Power of Uke, teaching ukulele to giant corporations such as Google. Sarah also runs a London comedy club that has been running for six years ever since she launched it during a programme I used to run, called the 30 Day Challenge. On top of this, she has collaborated with Airbnb, and she's given a TEDx talk. Sarah has so many creative projects she wants to pursue, but she developed some really interesting ideas about how to manage them all and how to decide which ones to continue and which ones to quit. Best Wishes, John   For full links and notes please visit:  https://theideaslab.org/sarahweiler-powerofuke ______________________________________________________________ Music provided by Argofox: TheDiabolicalWaffle – My Wish https://youtu.be/sRWEMjYR6e4

Sarah Weiler on teaching ukulele to google, knowing when to quit, and juggling multiple projects #73

A lot of us find it really hard to change our deeply ingrained habits, whether it's giving up a habit that's bad for our health or our concentration, or trying to adopt a new habit. So I was glad to have this conversation with Dr. Heather McKee, who is a behaviour change specialist, consulting to organisations. This is a really honest conversation between Heather and me, where we talk through some of our own bad habits, and Heather gave some cracking advice on how to change them. Best Wishes, John     For full links and notes please visit:  https://theideaslab.org/habitchange-heathermckee ______________________________________________________________ Music provided by Argofox: TheDiabolicalWaffle – My Wish https://youtu.be/sRWEMjYR6e4

How to change your habits with simple, tiny steps – Dr. Heather McKee #72

This is a very special episode of the ideas lab podcast. Because this one is announcing my brand new book. I should warn you that this episode has a few swear words in it. You'll find out why soon enough! I wrote the first version of this book as a guide to success for somewhat unconvential people (like mysefl) who are obsessed with their own creative pursuits. 10 years on and after being translated into 10 languages I am here to present a completely revised and updated version.   For full links and notes please visit:  https://theideaslab.org/mynewbook-behindthescenes ______________________________________________________________ Music provided by Argofox: TheDiabolicalWaffle – My Wish https://youtu.be/sRWEMjYR6e4

Announcing my controversial new book – the behind-the-scenes story #71

If you love reading non-fiction books, and you've ever dreamed of getting paid just to do that, then you're going to love this podcast. Mani Vaya runs 2000books.com and he has successfully turned his passion for non-fiction books into a successful business that he can run from anywhere in the world. Best Wishes, John     For full links and notes please visit:  https://theideaslab.org/manivaya-2000books ______________________________________________________________ Music provided by Argofox: TheDiabolicalWaffle – My Wish https://youtu.be/sRWEMjYR6e4

How Mani Vaya turned his passion for reading non fiction books into an online business he can run from anywhere in the world #70

This is the first in a series of interviews with people who are featured in my brand new book published this July by Pearson. And this is David Crane. Dave is a friend of mine for some years, but he's also the person who is the creator of the number one stop smoking app in the world, called Smoke Free, he's now had 4 million downloads. And I wanted to ask him, what makes a good app idea? How do you get apps noticed right at the start, and what is the key to an app that takes off and actually becomes a major source of income, as well as doing some good in the world? Best Wishes, John   For full links and notes please visit:  https://theideaslab.org/davecrane-smokefree-app ______________________________________________________________ Music provided by Argofox: TheDiabolicalWaffle – My Wish https://youtu.be/sRWEMjYR6e4

How to create a #1 app with 4 million downloads with Dave Crane, founder of Smoke Free #69

Have we lost touch with our bodies? Are we treating our bodies like some kind of brain taxi that's just carrying around the contents of our head? And what is the impact of that? That's a question that has obsessed Mark Walsh for going on 20 years. Mark is the creator of the Embodied Facilitator course, which helps coaches, therapists, body workers, and other practitioners to bring the body into their work and into their own lives as well. Mark is the creator of the embodiment conference happening later this year, and already has 130,000 people registered and £90,000 crowdfunded, to support the event. Just as interesting for me though, is the way mark presents himself online. He's very authentic, not afraid to be controversial. And this has actually allowed him to create a very large following, although at the same time he has to deal with quite a lot of backlash from what he describes as the politically correct or woke community. So we get into that towards the end of the podcast. It's a fascinating discussion. Best Wishes, John   For full links and notes please visit:  https://theideaslab.org/markwalsh-embodiment ______________________________________________________________ Music provided by Argofox: TheDiabolicalWaffle – My Wish https://youtu.be/sRWEMjYR6e4  

Mark Walsh on the embodiment movement, raising £90,000 of funding for his conference, and daring to be authentic in today’s cancel culture #68

If you've ever wanted to write a book about some aspect of business, then this is a great podcast for you. Alison Jones is founder of Practical Inspiration Publishing a pioneering publishing partner for businesses. And she runs the podcast, the Extraordinary Business Book Club, and she's had some fantastic guests on that. She is a veteran in the publishing industry with 25 years of experience with companies like Chambers, Oxford University Press, and Macmillan. And she is head judge on the annual Business Book Awards, which I am a category judge on. She's also author of This Book Means Business and several other books. And now I wanted to find out what makes a successful business book - how do you even start writing such a thing? And what is the key to making your business book successful? This is a really fascinating podcast for anyone who's ever dreamed of writing that killer business book. Best Wishes, John   For full links and notes please visit: https://theideaslab.org/alisonjones-businessbooks ______________________________________________________________ Music provided by Argofox: TheDiabolicalWaffle – My Wish https://youtu.be/sRWEMjYR6e4

How to write a bestselling business book – with Alison Jones #67

Welcome to the Ideas Lab Podcast, where you can learn from the world’s greatest creative and entrepreneurial minds to help you turn your ideas into original businesses, books and brands – because in a crowded world, it pays to stand out. Your host is John Williams, bestselling author of 'Screw Work Let’s Play' and 'Screw Work Break Free' and founder of The Ideas Lab London. Our focus is on the rebels, creatives and innovators with a new take on their topic that has allowed them to carve out a space that is all their own - from Saskia Nelson, the world's first dating profile photographer, to the New York Times bestselling author, Dan Pink exploding myths about productivity, to therapist Jerry Hyde taking his clients on a unique experience with plant medicines in Nepal. Subscribe now to get inspired, learn something new, and get ideas for your next creative project.

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The Ideas Lab Podcast

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