Mo Gawdat - The 3 BIGGEST Mistakes We Make In Finding Love

Mo Gawdat - The 3 BIGGEST Mistakes We Make In Finding Love

Author: Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment December 3, 2025 Duration: 1:02:24
I don’t often have repeat guests on How To Fail but Mo Gawdat is the exception. When he first came on this podcast in 2019, he fundamentally changed my mindset and my approach to life. Back then, he was on a mission to make 1 billion people happier. Now, he returns to focus his brilliant philosophical and analytical brain to the perpetual human question: how to find true love, then nurture and sustain it. He joins me to discuss the three most frequent mistakes we make in love - and to explain how AI could be the saving of us. Mo is about to launch a game-changing AI-powered app called Emma that promises to help us all navigate the dating game with compassion and insight. This is the first time Mo has spoken in depth about this revolutionary new app so, yes, that IS a How To Fail exclusive, no biggie. ✨ IN THIS EPISODE: 00:00 Introduction 04:29 Personal Growth and Relationships 05:40 Heartbreak and Grief 10:03 Reflections on Love and Breakups 18:12 The Complexity of Modern Dating 21:45 Introducing Emma: The AI for True Love 29:53 The Mathematics of Dating 30:33 The Law of Large Numbers in Love 32:54 Dating Fatigue and Its Consequences 33:39 Game Theory in Relationships 36:52 AI's Role in Modern Relationships 39:15 The Economics of Love and Relationships 47:52 Finding Contentment Amidst Global Chaos 💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER: Heartbreak is very similar to a terminal diagnosis, followed by grief. Falling in love is very easy. The trick is how realistic are you about falling in love with the right person? When you go on a date with a mindset that says “It's not going to work”, it's definitely not going to work. 🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS: Check out Mo Gawdat’s new relationship app: emma.love Join the How To Fail community: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content Elizabeth’s Substack: https://theelizabethday.substack.com/ 📚 WANT MORE? Mo Gawdat - his first appearance on How to Fail (in 2019!) sparked infinite chatter in the HTF space, covering grief, finding happiness and how to cope with a breakup https://link.chtbl.com/fnA5IzTi Alain de Botton - reflects on how to stay human during a crisis, embracing vulnerability, acknowledging grief without comparing pain and “turning on the light” in your fears so they lose their power https://link.chtbl.com/RBaS4VUy Stephen Grosz - argues that real love causes suffering and embracing those painful failures helps us grow, surrender (not submit) in relationships and see ourselves and others more clearly swap.fm/l/1XYvcQR4PRi06YpBC3RA 💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE? Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories 👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth: Instagram: @elizabday TikTok: @howtofailpod Podcast Instagram: @howtofailpod Website: www.elizabethday.org Elizabeth and Mo answer YOUR questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan Engineer: Matias Torres Assistant Producer: Suhaar Ali Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot Executive Producer: Carly Maile How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There's a quiet revolution happening in how we think about success, and How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is right at the heart of it. This isn't about schadenfreude or wallowing in misfortune. Instead, Elizabeth Day has created a space where the most interesting conversations begin with a simple, radical premise: our lowest moments are often our greatest teachers. Each episode, a guest-from celebrated artists and thinkers to everyday people with extraordinary stories-sits down to examine three significant failures from their own life. The magic lies in the excavation, as Elizabeth guides the discussion toward the unexpected wisdom and resilience that emerged from those setbacks. You'll hear the raw honesty in their voices, the laughter that comes with hindsight, and the profound clarity that failure can uniquely provide. This podcast, presented by Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment, digs into the messy, human stuff of life that connects us all, transforming shared vulnerability into a source of collective strength. It’s a reminder that the path to any meaningful achievement is rarely a straight line, but a series of instructive detours. The show actively invites listeners to reflect on their own stories, fostering a genuine community around the idea that we can all succeed better by understanding where we've previously stumbled. Tune in for conversations that are as comforting as they are challenging, and which might just change your perspective on what it means to live a well-lived life.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

How To Fail With Elizabeth Day
Podcast Episodes
ON GRIEF… With Mo Gawdat and Bonnie Tyler [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 13:28
Welcome to the newest evolution of How to Fail! Each week, I’ll be diving into the archives to spotlight key themes that have come up throughout my conversations with How to Fail guests. I’ll be sharing bite-sized takeaw…
Robin Wright on ageing, confidence and the myth of being ‘too late’ [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:50
‘I didn’t think I had that confidence, so I turned those roles down.’ Robin Wright is the legendary star of The Princess Bride, Forrest Gump, House of Cards, and Amazon’s gripping new thriller The Girlfriend. An Emmy-nom…
ON HEARTBREAK... With Alain de Botton and Jay Shetty [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 15:17
Welcome to this brand-new concept for How to Fail – where I dive into the back catalogue of the How to Fail archives, highlighting specific themes each week to bring you bitesize takeaways! Hopefully these episodes can b…
Tom Ellis - Fatherhood, Surrogacy and Years of Therapy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:40
You may know Tom Ellis as the devilishly charming lead in Netflix’s Lucifer, or as the lovable Gary in the BBC sitcom Miranda. He's also made waves in the U.S., starring alongside Gina Rodriguez in Players, and appearing…
Failure Throwback: Jameela Jamil [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:34
Jameela Jamil is an actor, activist, and founder of the I Weigh movement. From teaching English to starring in The Good Place, Jameela shares the highs, lows, and radical honesty that define her journey. This episode fir…
Failure Throwback: Glennon Doyle [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:07:01
Author of Untamed and fierce truth-teller Glennon Doyle joins me for a raw and revelatory episode, first recorded in July 2020. We dive into: Why we chase approval instead of trusting our inner voice Her struggles with b…
Failure Throwback: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08:02
This week we revisit one of my all-time favourite guests: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, recorded in July 2021. Best known for Americanah and her globally resonant TED Talks, Chimamanda opens up about the profound grief of lo…
Sir Tony Robinson - ‘I learned comedy as a defence mechanism’ [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:45
Recorded with a live audience in Cambridge, this captivating conversation delves deep into the life and career of a cultural force of the last half-century. Known of course for his iconic role as Baldrick in Blackadder,…