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I don’t want to mislead you. Listening to podcasts won’t change your life overnight. There are no magic pills here. I’m talking about a small supplement to your daily routine that will lead to meaningful improvements in whichever aspects of your life you want to improve.
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Empowerment might seem like a strong word for something as innocuous as a podcast. But it’s a series game. In America alone, 144 million people (51% of the population) listen to the 850,000 podcasts channels available in this $1 billion industry.
The thing is, sometimes it feels like life is orchestrating to stop you; there are not enough hours in the day. The podcast empowers through its innate ability to nullify dead time. And by dead time, I mean our relentless daily activities such as driving, showering, shopping, cooking, and cleaning.
And as for that making your life better? Again that might sound dramatic. But take an anecdotal example: you can listen to a podcast on how to execute a marketing plan while doing your grocery shopping. We were never meant to be so productive while doing mundane tasks. This empowerment is the crux of what has made podcasts so popular.
But don’t just take an anecdotal example as gospel. Let’s talk research. A study from UC Berkeley suggests narrative stories stimulate multiple parts of your brain. Furthermore, according to materials scientist Titi Shodiya, this stimulation and intake of information releases dopamine in your brain. Dopamine is what’s known as the feel-good chemical.
You don’t have to enjoy them in isolation either, as in the shopping vignette. They can empower your team too. Team engagement and communication is no easy thing to foster. Internal podcasting might be the answer to that, where a team creates its own podcast to disseminate ideas throughout a company.
Speaking to Dietrich Moens, the CEO of Spacehuntr said that “everyone in the team already loved and spoke about podcasts all the time. So, we just made a small club out of it. It’s great for the company culture, of course, but the cool thing is they just made it for themselves.”
As for the content itself, podcasts are a genuine learning resource that is essential for you to tap into. It just so happens that 75% of people who listen to podcasts do so to learn new things.
If you have the desire and will to improve your life, the humble podcast is a fantastic and free resource. There's something for budding entrepreneurs and veterans alike. Have a look at some of the choicest podcasts illustrated below to enhance your skills and knowledge. Here are some podcasts you could consider checking out:
So there you have it. As I said, no magic pills here. But at the end of the day, making improvements in your life isn’t always about bold marquee statements of intent. More often than not, the most sincere ones are small changes that add up to something meaningful over time. In short, podcasts: might just end up improving your life.