No, I’m not starting a podcast; yet.
Honestly, I didn’t think positively about podcasts until recently. For me, it was like:
WTF!? People are sitting in their rooms, talking to themselves and they expect someone to listen to that shit?
But, let’s set my ignorant part aside for now.
Somewhere during the last year, I discovered Seth Godin. I’ve started to listen to his audiobooks and to read his blogs, just to find out that he has a podcast. So, I decided to give it a try, just because I wanted to hear more of Seth.
I installed Castbox on my phone and I’ve started to listen to Seth’s podcast called Akimbo. My tempo was an episode per day until I ran out of episodes. Now, I’m one of those who are eagerly waiting for a new episode each week.
Meanwhile, I realized that I kind of got accustomed to listening to at least one podcast per day. So, I decided to search for new creators. And, who would guess, there are people who I already knew, but I’ve only seen their shows on YouTube without realizing that what I’ve been watching was actually a podcast. Yes, I can be truly ignorant sometimes.
I immediately started to follow The Self Publishing Show, Joanna Penn, Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu, The College Info Geek, and then I discovered the most famous of all – Joe Rogan, and a bit less famous but extremely interesting James Altucher.
At this point, it could be said that I’m really hooked on podcasts. I tend not to binge on them because I’ve got a lot of things to do during the day, but I can’t have a successful day unless I’ve listened to at least one podcast.
A few days ago, I tried to examine the roots of my sudden love for podcasts and I discovered it quite quickly.
I was born introvert. Even when I was a kid and when all the other kids were running and jumping around I would sit on a couch and listen to conversations my mother had with her friends. My mother and most of her friends are teachers. So, their conversation wasn’t a usual chit-chat. I had to adopt a quite large vocabulary before I could understand anything they were saying. So, I did.
Later, I would lay in my bed and think about all the things I’ve heard. Hence the lack of my deep sleep and hence my writing career.
Even when I grew up, as well as while I was growing up, I would sit with my friends and listen to them. I would often be shouted out as being the quietest person in the room and it often made me feel uncomfortable. However, people got used to me and now they know what to expect from me; silence. Written words are the place of my expression. It has always been like that.
Let’s get back to the podcast.
When I thought about myself as being a good listener, I realized that the podcasts are actually the perfect input medium for me. When I add the audiobooks in the same package, I’ve got a jackpot.
While listening to a podcast, I feel like hanging out with these people because that’s how hanging out looks in my case; unless I’m drinking, but let’s leave that story for some other time.
The people whose podcasts I listen to are not just entertaining and interesting they are mainly educational and that’s the most enjoyable part of listening. I’ve learned much more from podcasts and audiobooks than during the four years of my college studies.
So, if you’re an introvert and a good listener (if you’re a writer I guess that’s exactly what you are), I would warmly suggest finding a podcast which you might enjoy.