These past few months (while it's been too hot to walk in the afternoons) I've started to get long evening walks into my daily routine. When he's home, Paul puts Ellerie down to sleep and around that time, I slip out the front door. I'm generally aiming for at least a 30 minute walk but sometimes, if I have a lot of steps until I hit 10k, I go for longer. (Read more about my fitbit driven activity level here.)
My route is not super interesting, usually just up and down my long street (it's got a decent hill which is great) but my podcasts keep the routine from feeling boring.
First things first, I am always looking for podcasts that do two things: entertain AND teach me something. I don't care how random the topic, but I do hope to learn something. And the entertain part is obviously personal preference. Something I find entertaining might bore you death and vice-versa.
Second, what I love about podcasts is that if you don't like an episode or are ten minutes in and can't even remember what you've heard you can stop listening. It's free. It's quick. It's easy. I always load my phone with three or four episodes so if on a walk I realize I don't care about what's happening, I can just start a new one. Podcasts are a very low-risk investment.
Some of my faves:
Freakanomics Radio / I just started this one and it's good. I always learn a little business lesson from them even though that is not exactly the point. I love that there is a huge back-log of episodes to listen to as well so I just pick a topic that seems interesting. The failure episode was great. The most recent on how to create suspense was good. And although it was different, I really enjoyed the interview with Aziz Ansari.
This American Life / the first time I listened to one of these episodes I was like "seriously? People love this?" but I think it just was a dud episode for me. I'd say 80% of these are so interesting and cover the most wide variety of topics from police brutality to amusement parks. What's frustrating is that you can't access the backlogged episodes via iTunes (but you can via their site) so it's hard to "go-back" and pick favorites to listen to. However, if you're going to start with an old one, I loved "If you don't have something nice to say, SAY IT IN ALL CAPS".
Start-Up / I've talked about this before. Season 1 of this was really different from anything I had heard before. It took place "in order" meaning you had to listen to all of them to get what what happening and it told the story of launching a start-up podcast business. It was charmingly awkward and I really enjoyed it. Season 2 told the story of a different start-up company and while I listened to and looked forward to every episode it didn't quite hook me like season 1 did. I would still recommend though, might be a good fit for you.
Mystery Show / from Start-Up, I learned about Mystery Show which is a podcast that attempts to solve a mystery. It's crazy stuff like "did Britney Spears really read and enjoy a book I wrote?" or "how tall is Jake Gyllenhaal really?" (those were my favorite episodes for sure.) It's kind of crazy the stuff the host figures out and also very sweet.
Invisibila / this show is on hiatus, but I loved every single episode they put out last winter in their short season one. The point is to cover topics that we can't see, connections, categories, fear, etc. I was totally fascinated and can't wait for this to return.
99% Invisible / another show that's been around for a long time so the backlogged episode list goes on forever. I think I have listened to most of them. Episodes are short and cover a specific (random) design-related topic like chairs, barbed wire or palm trees. It's not something you think you're particularly interested in learning more about but then you listen and get a quick history lesson wrapped in a neat package.
Serial / if you haven't already listened to the Serial podcast then...do. One story, told week by week. Start at the beginning. And then wait with me for a totally new topic for us all to get interested in when they launch Season 2. A lot of people have told me about the Undisclosed Podcast which looks closer at the Adnan case. I tried it and couldn't get into it at all. Worth another shot?
What else should I be listening to?
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And of course, it's Wednesday so there is a new episode of my podcast, ELISE GETS CRAFTY, available. This week I am chatting with Ali and Katie about working on, not just in your business. Subscribe or stream here.
