How Listening To Podcasts Can Improve Your life

July
12, 2021

6 min read

This story originally appeared on ValueWalk

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.

1. Empowerment through reclaimed time

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.

1. Empowerment Through Brainpower

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.

1. Empowerment Through Team-Building

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.”

1. Empowerment Through Learning

As for the content itself, podcasts are a genuine learning re 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.

Some Podcasts To Check Out

If you have the desire and will to improve your life, the humble podcast is a fantastic and free re. 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:

Entrepreneurship

• In This Week in Startups, you can join Jason Calacanis and his rotating guest experts such as Tyler Crowley, Jacob Beemer and Gina Delvac while discussing the cases and stories from the startup world. You’ll learn about the top trends in the business world in some high-profile interviews, and you’ll learn how to start a business.
• How I Built This is a deep-dig interview scenario where host Guy Raz investigates how his guests, such as Vlad Tenev of Robinhood and Ethan Diamond of Bootcamp, built their businesses. His invasive and exploratory interview style yields fascinating revelations and discussions and shows listeners the drama’s behind-the-scenes drama and turmoil of public success.

Management And Leadership

• What Great Bosses Know was founded in 2016 by the developer of the Poynter Institute’s leadership and management program Jill Geisler. In each episode, she takes on a question that challenges today’s leaders, focusing on the following three topics: leadership, communication, and trust.
• The $100 MBA is short and sweet; 10 minutes of condensed quality content. The focus here is on actionable takeaway lessons for listeners. Omar Zenhom hosts it with episodes centred on testimonies from successful business managers and owners such as Paul Jarvis and Justin Jackson.

Investment

• Award-winning fintech company MYWallSt hosts Stock Club. Listeners are treated to discussions on their favourite companies, market-beating approaches, and long term investing success tips.
• Money For The Rest of Us is a podcast that investigates what money is theoretically and how it operates and works practically. It engages listeners in how and when to invest and how to live without worrying about money.

Health

• In the Food Psych Podcast, Christy Harrison challenges the dysfunctional relationship we have with food. By opening up on her own challenges, she gives listeners sincere and well-researched advice on how to improve how we relate to food and our bodies.
• The Optimal Health Daily is a fantastic tool for sifting through the endless train of health and wellness content out there. They find the best and present to listeners in concise and actionable terms.

Mind

• All in the Mind is a BBC production that investigates the human mind, its limits, and its possibilities. From the concepts of mindfulness to the issue of loneliness in the modern world, it’s a treat.
• Happier with Gretchen Rubin is presented by the best seller author of the same name, Gretchen Rubin. This podcast is an endearing and supportive show that offers practical help with everyday issues for listeners, such as tackling everyday chores, tackling difficult conversations, and clever ways to use emails.

Fitness

• Ali on the Run is a vehicle that Ali Feller uses to interview entrepreneurs, leaders, and athletes on their trials and tribulations in the running world, such as Beverly Everett, symphony orchestra conductor, and Brent and Kyle Pease, the Ironman duo.
• The Yoga Hour is a podcast specialising in Kriya Yoga, philosophy and practice for fulfilled living in today’s world. The Yoga Hour is hosted by Dr Laurel Trujillo and discusses inspiration, insights, and best-informed practices.

Wrapping Up

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.