Category: Podcast

So this is it! The final episode! It has been a wonderful experience making this podcast of the last four months. This week Katie and I discuss whether we believe that it is even possible to be perfect (spoiler alert… we don’t!)

When we started making this podcast we didn’t really take the list of attributes that seriously. To be honest we still don’t, but there is something genuinely life changing about any experience which allows you to stop, listen to people’s stories and then try and apply what you have learnt in your own life.

As we mention on the podcast we got a lot of inspiration for this episode from this excellent TED talk by Reshma Saujani, the founder of Girls Who Code.

We also were inspired by the work of Brene Brown. Her amazing TED talk on ‘The Power of Vulnerability’ is a game changer. IT is a bit long, but highly recommended!

I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped us on the Just Ten Things journey. All of the people we have spoken to and all the people who have taken the time to listen!

If you have any comments or thoughts on anything we have cover on the podcast please do get in touch. I know have the exciting task of producing a reflective essay about this whole process so I would love to hear any insights that you have!

– Afua

After talking to Tommy we took his advice and went to the sea to release some of our anxieties. We decided to visit the seaside town of Folkestone. What we hadn’t realised is that outside of London, Bank Holidays are sacred, people actually stop working. Whilst this was a wonderful call back to the good old days when rest was a bigger part of our national story, it does not lead to the most exciting day out! However, you cannot say the Katie and I are not troopers and we persevered in finding the joy in taking a little time out.

This was the first indication that Katie was not feeling laid-back as she led me through a detailed critique of this ad.

Katie hated this ad too.

This is on the wall of Folkestone Station. It’s cool, but at the same time it makes you feel like there are hundreds of people trapped within the walls of the station, silently screaming.

A quiet oasis which made me yearn for my own living bench.

Yup, Folkestone is the type of place where they have mosaic QR codes.

Ah! The joy of being by the sea.

Who would have thought that a chip shop would be so stressful.

Katie, before she cracked.

The perfect place to release ons’s anxieties

I have no idea what this is.

The front cover of my YA book – Faded Glory

This week we spoke to Tommy and Taaka and they helped us explore our supportive sides by guiding our listeners. We dished out some some excellent advice.

So we took a little break over Easter to rest up and get ready to attack the summer with vigor!  We also took a little bit of that time to do some research for the intelligence challenge that JP set us.

Quick recap, JP suggested that we research a topic that we didn’t know anything about that we have always been interested in and then prepare a presentation about it.

I found it to be a really interesting experience and it reminded me how rare it is that I embark on learning for learning’s sake. Even though the podcast was the motivator for this learning it did make me think about how much richer learning feels when there is a sense of intrinsic motivation.

Please find below the slides that accompany my presentation. Yes, I know, these are not some of the most inspiring slides, but they will provide a little visual interest whilst you listen to my story.

Katie’s presentation was far more visually appealing and as such could not be constrained by the limits of the audio format. She will be dropping her presentation on another platform, but I will ensure that I include a link on the blog for wherever it lands.

This week on the podcast we spoke to Tommy about being laid-back and basically how we can learn to chill the heck out.

So I guess we are headed to the sea to become super laid-back individuals. Let’s see how that works out for us.

– Afua.

I kicked off the prank war whilst Katie was on holiday. As pranks go this one was pretty tame. I was hoping that I could set the tone for the rest of the pranks. I was shooting for light-hearted japes. 

Hugest apologises for the vertical video. There are no excuses – I should know better.

Katie struck back with an attack on my one place of comfort and security. I think what made this worse was the fact that it had come so long after my original prank that I had actually forgotten about it.

Salt! In my bed! When she knew that I didn’t have any clean sheets. My thought process on seeing this was “Urgh, this is the absolute worst!”

This is how I decided to hit back. If it is not clear, I taped up Katie’s room. It was simple and hopefully effective. Just a mildly annoying prank with very low stakes.

This was the move Katie chose to make next. Once again, she was fully aware that I had not recently done any washing. (Although, fortunately for me Katie is not aware of my ’emergency towel’ squirrelled away for such emergencies.

This prank got my blood boiling and so I did the only thing I could think of in the heat of the  moment and I went and hid Katie’s pillows. Petty? YES! Satisfying? OH YES! I was feeling pretty smug because I could see Katie frantically searching for her pillows. Little did I know that this was all a ruse and she had already given up on the lost pillows. She had used this drop in my guard to launch another attack. A classic, she had teepeed my room.

So I would say we were pretty even in the prank stakes and I am glad I pushed myself to indulge in something that does not come naturally to me.

On the podcast this week, we talk to JP, one of Katie’s colleagues.

We spoke about the links between intelligence, learning and teaching. We also touched on the importance of acknowledging the different ways in which intelligence manifests itself.

JP has challenged us to learn about something completely new and present it. If you have any ideas of something we could learn about feel free to comment, email or tweet us with suggestions.

This week we have a little bonus episode for you. When we were preparing to start podcasting we tested the quality of our skype audio by having a few chats with my parents.

During one of these chats, they told us a story of how they decided to deal with some internet hoaxsters. My parents are both fans of a good tale and a good prank and this is the kind of thing they do regularly just to amuse themselves.

The prank war is well underway and for once my inclination towards being a homebody is serving me well. Although I am running out of ideas and so therefore just resorting to being mischievous and slightly annoying!

We will be back next Monday with another full episode!

So, my learning from this week’s honesty challenge is that I have no awareness of my own Nutella consumption and  I am incapable of telling when Katie is lying. (A fact which is not a surprise to me.)

This week we spoke to Jon, a good friend of both Katie and myself. Jon is by far the most playful person I know. I had the joy of working with Jon for a few years and he never missed and opportunity to dress up in a silly outfit or wind someone up in his perpetually good-natured way.

This is a challenge that I really need  to steel myself for, because as you will hear on this episode I am not a prankster. I am always acutely aware of not wanting to stress people out, which seems to be the sole purpose of pranks. I also have a deep, deep fear of going up against Katie in a prank war because she operates on a daily basis at least 110% to my 80%. I am terrified at the thought of what this is going to mean for me!

We are well past the mid-point of the just ten things journey and  what began as an attempt at a humorous response to a questionable article has led me to some real moments of challenge and self-reflection. I feel like I might be well on the way to becoming a little bit better!