PODCASTS: The Best Personal Growth Hack.

If you’ve ever met me in person, you probably would have noticed the stereo headphones around my neck, they’re there solely for listening podcasts.

I’m an avid podcast listener. I have been listening to at least 5 to 10 shows per day for more than 6 months covering a variety of subjects such as innovation, marketing, startups, sales and personal motivation just to name a few.

Without a doubt, podcasts have had a major influence and have played a key role in shaping in my life. Therefore, Podcasts have been my personal favorite growth hack of all time.

What are Podcasts

Simply put up, Podcasts are online audio shows that can be downloaded to any personal mobile device or streamed online.

While radio shows have been around for ages, there is something really personal about a podcast. With thousands of podcasts being updated regularly.

There are all kinds of podcasters, from well-known media companies to amateur enthusiasts that span every topic you can think of.

Why Listen to a Podcast

What If you can find a way to do something with your ears while you’re doing something else with the rest of your body? Multi-tasking can save you a lot of time.

Imagine listening to the best minds of your industry, who will be whispering the top and best kept secrets of the industry into your ears every day and keep you updated on the latest trends of the industry. You can listen to the expert, the person you envision to be and to every small secret related to your industry.

Take for example exercising, driving, walking, cooking, standing in a queue, scrolling through social media, doing mundane tasks all these activities that are difficult or impossible to do while reading or watching a video. But all these activities are actually enhanced by listening to something.

How much of your day do you spend doing tasks that are compatible with listening? I bet that it would be more than a couple of hours.

You can use all that time to learn new things, improve your mind and enrich your life. As podcasts are of varied lengths, you can choose the best podcast to listen to with respect to your time constraints as well.

What’s so Special

Podcasts, when produced effectively, have a timeless quality to them. You can listen to them repeatedly and still obtain new information each time.

Some of my favorite podcasts are professionally produced audio-documentary style stories. They have multiple layers of sound, mixing in narrative and music to them, which adds depth to their stories.

Focusing on audio only forces your imagination to fill in the blanks. Some of these podcast episodes are done so well, it’s as if I see the visuals in my mind as I listen.

Monetary Benefits

Podcast listeners are the beneficiary even while listening to the paid ads on some channel as instead of running pre-programmed ads advertisers prefer to let the host readout the details of their product/service which ads a personal touch and doesn’t seem like a commercial.

Many of these companies usually offer free subscriptions or discounted deals of their product/service through these podcasts to their audience.

Many of these freebies are even worth more than 1000’s of dollars.

Best apps for Listening to a Podcast:

Though there are tons of apps and websites where you can listen to podcasts,

My personal favorites are (in that order):

· Podcast Go

· Pocket Casts

· Apple iTunes

· & Google play music.

I would have told you about the top podcasts to listen to as well, but it’s all relative to your field of interest.

Also Read: Top podcasts for Entrepreneurs to listen to.

Conclusion:

I don’t think that there is much left to say but if you believe in self-growth and continuous learning then I can’t think of a better medium than podcasts to achieve that.

That being said, I would advise you to download one of the above apps and try it for yourself.

With the means of this blog I would like to extend my gratitude towards my friend and mentor Angad Singi for introducing me to the world of podcasts.