Share

cover art for Follow Your Passions: Brain Cancer Warrior, Elliott Howell, on how having 8-10 years to live made him rethink everything.

Out of Hours: The Podcast

Follow Your Passions: Brain Cancer Warrior, Elliott Howell, on how having 8-10 years to live made him rethink everything.

Season 7, Ep. 2

You never know when you’re going to wake up one day with a brain tumour, so stop waiting to live your life until the timing seems right, and start living it NOW. That is Elliott's message - having survived brain surgery and and deciding to go all-in on inspiring others through his photography and his love of life.


Elliott Howell is a travel, product, and brand photographer who was living a beautiful, full life until one fateful Sunday night when he had a seizure and within moments, his entire life changed. He was rushed to the hospital where he spent the next 20 hours undergoing all kinds of tests and scans, finally to discover that he has a massive 2.5-inch cancerous brain tumour.


Elliott had awake brain surgery and then had to go through radiation. With the help from his friends and his GoFundMe, Elliott went all in on his recovery: reorienting his diet, and quitting his job. Now, years later, his MRI looks great - the scan is stable and there’s no sign of anything to worry about. He continues to do

a low-carb, zero-sugar, no alcohol diet and goes to the gym multiple times per week. He's ramping up work again as a visual artist with brands in the lifestyle and travel spaces (products, hotels, tourism boards, agencies). His portfolio is here, and his Instagram is here.


In this show we talk about what diet did for his health, what he learnt from a diagnosis giving him 8-10 years to live, and how it feels to face such difficult news.

More episodes

View all episodes

  • 1. Trailer: What is the meaning of Out of Hours? And what is the vision?

    06:20||Season 7, Ep. 1
    Hey! Here's a short bonus episode to share a bit more about how the Out of Hours mission has changed and what I am here to create. It's still a few weeks until the next season of the Out of Hours podcast. Make sure you subscribe to catch the first episodes, by hitting follow :)You can also sign up for free to the newsletter (https://outofhours.substack.com), to read articles focused on human potential, self growth, and doing more things that light you up. Please send me an email at hello[@]outofhours.org with any feedback on the show :) Or join the coaching waitlist here: https://www.outofhours.org/coaching
  • 6. The New Happy: Stephanie Harrison, on Why You've Got Happiness All Wrong, and How to Find It

    01:13:15||Season 5, Ep. 6
    Thanks for being a supporter of Out of Hours! ✏️ If you haven't left a review yet - please do!! ☕️ To support me to keep making the show you can buy me a coffee to say thanks here.📧 To sign up for the newsletter head to outofhours.org for lots of exciting news.About this episode:Today on the podcast we have Stephanie Harrison, founder of The New Happy, and soon to be published author with Penguin Random House for her book, The New Happy.Stephanie, who has a masters in positive psychology, is on a mission to teach us the truth about happiness, and why - when you do everything right, pursuing the right jobs and education - you still don’t feel happy. Stephanie's interest in studying happiness started many years ago when she worked at LinkedIn, and her interest in workplace happiness grew when she worked at Thrive Global. The New Happy started as just a curiosity, then a newsletter for family and friends and now a community of millions of people - with millions of followers across her newsletter and recognisable Instagram page. We talk about how it got started, why everything you know about happiness is wrong, how she got over the fear of posting online, and why you don't need to read the science to know that helping people makes you feel happy.
  • 5. Gay Hendricks - How to Not Lose Yourself in your Relationships and How to Use Your Zone of Genius to Thrive

    01:14:43||Season 5, Ep. 5
    Gay Hendricks is a psychologist, writer, and teacher - specialising in personal growth, relationships, and body intelligence. Gay received his Ph.D. in counselling psychology from Stanford University, and twenty years later he set up the Hendricks Institute - an International Learning Center that teaches core skills for conscious living. As a coach, he’s coached more than eight hundred executives, from firms like Dell and HP. He has also written over 40 books, including The Big Leap - where he coined the ‘zone of genius’ that so many people talk about today. Along with his wife, Dr. Kathlyn Hendricks, he has co-authored many books including Conscious Loving - where they explore how you can have creativity, and happiness in your relationships all through life - shedding relationship habits that keep us small and stuck. In this episode we talk about relationships and how to live in our full potential: How to take responsibility in relationships - and avoid racing to the victim positionHow not to lose yourself in relationshipsWhy your happiness about someone's flaws is normally enabled by youWhy there is 200% responsibility to take in the relationship How to radically eradicate criticism from your relationshipWhy a fear of being fundamentally flawed or outshining someone can hold us backhow do we stop nagging and instead use that energy for our own creativity? This an episode for anyone interested in getting more from life, in understanding how they can build more fulfilling relationships and work. ☕️ Enjoying the show and want to say thanks? You can now buy me a coffee :) 📧 Sign up to the fortnightly newsletter!
  • 4. Can We Cure the Body with Our Minds? Jo Marchant on The Power of Placebo

    52:23||Season 5, Ep. 4
    Today on the show we have Jo Marchant - a New York Times bestselling author and speaker. Her writing explores the nature of humanity and our universe, and today we talk about her book 'Cure' all about the mind-body connection.Cure begins with a simple question: can our minds really heal our bodies? It is a controversial subject, but she studies it with the scientific rigour learnt from her PhD along with a skeptical and open mind. She uncovers evidence that our subjective thoughts, emotions and beliefs can have very real benefits for our health, from easing symptoms and influencing immune responses to reducing our risk of getting ill in the first place.She explores everything from hypnosis to meditation, from placebos to positive visualisation – to explore the power, and limits, of healing our body with our mind. This episode is a bit different from normal, we explore the science instead of her own journey making the book, but I hope you enjoy it just as much! Please do leave it a review & sign up to the newsletter at outofhours.org for more exciting news.
  • 3. The Speed Project, the Hardest Relay Race on Earth: Nils Arend Self-Doubt, Meditation and Money.

    53:48||Season 5, Ep. 3
    The Speed Project is hard to explain. It is a 340-mile relay-style race from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, which started as an adventure between friends and has since scaled to global participants. It's an unsanctioned "unofficial-official" race (which means there are no official rules, and no spectators), and has been called "unsanctioned, unhinged, underground and off the grid" - as well as "the secret fight-club style race" (BBC), and "Hardest Running Race in the World" - Hypebeast)In this episode we talk about:The birth of the speed projectWhy Nils loves running why it's an anchor in his lifeWhy people should allow people to love their work and get paidWhen you should quit a side project Why your 'why' matters so much.How you can keep going when doing such an extreme raceP.S. If you enjoy this episode you can now buy me a coffee to say thanks! ☕️https://www.buymeacoffee.com/outofhours Thank you so much A Nonny Mouse for your support!
  • 2. Kevin Kelly, on How to Find Your Purpose, and Excellent Advice for Living and his Favourite Self Help Books.

    47:09||Season 5, Ep. 2
    Want to say thanks for this episode and encourage future episodes? You can now Buy Me A Coffee! 💛☕️(You can also email me on hello@outofhours.org)Kevin Kelly is the founding executive editor of Wired magazine and a former editor and publisher of the Whole Earth Review. He has also been a writer, photographer, conservationist, and student of Asian and digital culture.He is also co-chair of The Long Now Foundation, a membership organisation that champions long-term thinking. He is founder of the popular Cool Tools website, which has been reviewing tools daily for 20 years. He is also the author of multiple best-selling books about the future of technology. His newest is Excellent Advice for Living, a book of 450 modern proverbs for a pretty good life. In this episode we talk about:What makes good advice (and is there such thing as original advice?)Why language is important for using advice wellWhy he wasn't in love when he got married but is nowThe self-help books that actually changed his behaviourWhy you shouldn't wear a hat with more personality than you Why he admires Jeff Bezos every time he meets himPlease enjoy!
  • 1. Edward Sullivan: on Building Healthy Work Cultures, Finding Your Zone of Genius, and Starting a Successful Coaching Business.

    48:34||Season 5, Ep. 1
    Welcome to Out of Hours.Joining the podcast today is Edward Sullivan, co-founder and CEO of Velocity coaching, best selling author of Leading with Heart and executive coach. His twenty-five-year career as an executive coach and political consultant has taken him around the globe coaching and advising start-up founders, Fortune 500 CEOs, and heads of state of foreign nations. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Fast Company, INC., USA Today and more. We talk about finding your zone of genius, on falling into coaching by mistake, what a ski time CEO is (vs war time or peace time CEO), fear led work cultures vs heart based cultures and so much more!☕️ Like the show? Buy me a coffee to show your appreciation!
  • 6. Matt Booshell, Becoming a comedian and musician with Matt Buechele

    57:32||Season 4, Ep. 6
    If you enjoy this episode, please buy me a coffee and send a message to show your support! ☕️Today on the podcast we have Matt Buechele - known on instagram as Matt Booshell. You may recognise Matt from his comedic, straight-to-camera one minute monologues - as he walks through the street of new york with his airpods. He is a writer, comedian, and composer. He has always been interested in comedy, music and sketches - and today he is full time on his creative work - having written for the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and having had his work featured on place like Netflix and Comedy Central. We talk about why fear is irrational, why putting his work online was so key for his success, and why he thinks all musicians want to be comedians and all comedians want to be musicians. I hope you enjoy!