Listen and learn from others

Sometimes the best way to learn is through the mistakes of others. Each week on How to Fail with Elizabeth Day, a well-known guest explores with award-winning author and journalist Day their three biggest failures in life and how they overcame them.

Series nine of the podcast launched in late August and includes Great British Bake Off winner

Nadiya Hussain on her experiences with anxiety, BBC Radio 1’s longestserving presenterAnnie Nightingale on breaking the mould and comedian Adam Buxton on what it’s like to be a parent after the death of your own.

Rather thanmaking you feel inadequate, or bad about yourself, this podcast offers wisdom derived from difficult experiences and the guests are top-notch.

Meanwhile, tales of business failure are highlighted with aplomb in the podcast Spectacular Failures from American Public Media.

The series, written and hosted by the hilarious Lauren Ober, has recently returned for a second season and continues to unmask the mistakes of some of the biggest businesses in recent history.

This season’s failures include the downfall of the airline PanAmin the early 1990s, how the first music file sharing company Napster was thwarted out of business by Metallica and the United States courts, and how fast fashion company Forever 21 went bankrupt through mass expansion with no strategy.

The podcast is a healthy mix of popular culture and historical exploration, with just a touch of schadenfreude.