Erica and Erin dig into the viral #maincharacterenergy phenomenon, weighing its appeal, its dark side, and what it really means to claim agency in your own life. Together, they ask the question that underlies it all: just who decides who gets to be the main character anyway?

Reviews help, but your weird, wild, or painfully familiar cliches are the real gold.

Share them via our hotline:

719-819-2175

Links & resources

Narcissism and Agency https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702617725537

Cornell Study https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.19037

Read Erin's article in Marketing, Media, & Money https://pattyfarmer.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/M3-Mag-Q3-2025-AUGUST-Final.pdf

Oh and watch Dinner in America https://www.dinnerinamerica.com/

This week, Erica and Erin take on the cult of productivity with guest Nick Power, marketer, creator, and professional chaos enthusiast.

Nick shares how he first heard the phrase (hint: it didn’t go well), and how it still haunts the way we talk about work and worth. They also get into what counts as success, how “results-only” thinking dulls creativity, and what might actually be worth measuring instead.

Don’t forget to leave us a review and call the hotline to share your favorite or most cringe-worthy cliches:

719-819-2175

Links & resources

Nick Power on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickcpower/

Nick’s Very Cool, Fun Merch

https://uncapitalized-goods.printify.me/

Show notes

“You can’t pour from an empty cup”...but what if your cup isn’t empty?

From misreading your cup to questioning learned helplessness, Erica and Erin go beyond individual self-care and discuss the messy (mostly) terrifying context of today’s world—shrinking rights, disappearing resources, and structural chaos–and how we might think about cups in a way that generates some much-needed hope.

Don’t forget to leave us a review and call the hotline to share your favorite or most cringe-worthy cliches:

719-819-2175

Links & Resources

Arley Nevar’s amazing LinkedIn post

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/arleynevar_i-had-an-interaction-in-the-dms-this-week-activity-7376639338253619200-zupb?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAWXISsBrgKoYLsfVHpibEEVDt026Lp2JOQ

Follow Arley Nevar on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/arleynevar/

Two of the most recycled pieces of advice—“Get out of your comfort zone” and “Stay in your lane”—sound helpful on the surface. Push yourself! Focus! Hustle! Specialize!

When these concepts collide, the absurdity becomes obvious.

Erin and Erica analyze two cliches that seem at odds, but that also define a new reality in the tension that lives between them.

Don’t forget to leave us a review or call the hotline to share your favorite (or most cringe-worthy) cliches:

719-819-2175

Show Notes & Links Selective Attention

https://thedecisionlab.com/reference-guide/neuroscience/selective-attention

The Neuroscience of the Flow State

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.645498/full

Cognitive Load During Problem Solving

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1207/s15516709cog1202_4

What does “work hard, play hard” really mean and why won’t it die?

In this episode of Trash Talk, Erica and Erin sit down with Meghan French Dunbar, author and co-founder of Conscious Company Media, to unpack the cultural myth of “work hard, play hard.”

Drawing on Meghan’s new book, “This isn’t Working,” this conversation explores how play has been commodified, as well as why, despite our best efforts, hustle culture from decades ago still sneaks into modern work.

Don’t forget to leave us a review and call the hotline to share your favorite or most cringe-worthy cliches:

719-819-2175

Show Notes & Links

Buy Megan’s Book, “This Isn’t Working”

https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/meghan-french-dunbar/this-isnt-working/9781541704862/

Visit Megan’s Website https://www.meghanfrenchdunbar.com/

Subscript to Megan’s podcast, “Better Than This”

https://www.meghanfrenchdunbar.com/betterthanthis

Follow Erica Breuer: LinkedIn
Follow Erin Thomas: LinkedIn
Visit the Trash Talk Website: Buzzsprout

Citations

John Morison, Religious Improvement of the Poorer Classes, London: Fisher, Son & Jackson, 1827, p. 277.

The Normal Instructor and Teachers’ World, Vol. 32, 1923, p. 92.

Quoted in The Rotarian, Vol. 77, No. 3, Sept. 1950, p. 35.

Erin Thomas and Erica Breuer talk about everyone’s favorite decision-making mantra: “If it’s not a hell yes, it’s a no.”

They trace this phrase back to its roots (surprisingly, it's not an influencer carousel) and get into into the messy stuff (privilege, trauma, hustle culture) that makes this cliche difficult to apply everywhere. They also review the neuroscience that proves your brain isn’t always the best hype-man when you’re chasing a hell yes.

📞Listener Hotline

Have you ever made a “meh” choice that turned into the best decision of your life—or dodged a hell yes that blew up later? We want your stories.

Call us at 719-819-2175 or DM us.

Links & Notes

• Follow Erica Breuer on LinkedIn
  
  
• Follow Erin Thomas on LinkedIn
  
  
• Trash Talk Website
  
  
• Related Episode: It’s All About Your Mindset (Season 1)

Erica and Erin are back from summer break and they’re examining the lifecycle of a cultural darling, “Let Them.” In this episode, they explore why society (sometimes) eats meaning for breakfast.

If you’ve ever wondered why some advice hits hard one day and feels hollow the next, you’ll enjoy their examination of how “Let Them” and other cliches become wallpaper for the internet.

Resources & Mentions:

→ “Let Them” poem (2019) by the original author, Cassie Phillips:

“Just let them.

If they want to choose something or someone over you, LET THEM.

If they want to go weeks without talking to you, LET THEM.

If they are okay with never seeing you, LET THEM.

If they are okay with always putting themselves first, LET THEM.

If they are showing you who they are and not what you perceived them to be, LET THEM.

If they want to follow the crowd, LET THEM.

If they want to judge or misunderstand you, LET THEM.

If they act like they can live without you, LET THEM.

If they want to walk out of your life and leave, hold the door open, AND LET THEM.

Let them lose you.

You were never theirs because you were always your own.

So let them.”

→ Cassie Phillips Contact Links

https://www.instagram.com/cassie.phillips.letthem

https://www.tiktok.com/@cassiephillips.letthem

https://www.cassie-phillips.com/

→ “Public Pressure & Mel Robbins”

https://sagejustice.substack.com/p/public-pressure-and-mel-robbins

Trash Talk: Season 2 Trailer

Welcome back to Trash Talk for season two, where Erica Breuer and Erin Thomas dive into the cliched advice everyone repeats like gospel (even when it’s garbage).

Got a cringe-worthy cliche to share?

Call or text our new Trash Talk hotline at 719-819-2175.

New episodes of Trash Talk drop Tuesday, September 9th—subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to stay up to date.