The right podcast can be an indulgence that adds value and depth to your time and can motivate you to get back to the tasks that you’ve been avoiding.
In recent years, a collective momentum has been building surrounding podcasts. They suit our busy society perfectly, they are the ideal medium to stay informed or entertained while engaging in our many mindless errands, and the wide selection of genres and hosts means there’s something for everyone. However, podcasts can also be chosen devices of procrastination, so it’s imperative to choose carefully before you’re ten episodes deep into My Dad Wrote A Porno.
It’s essential, as a creative, an entrepreneur or a freelancer to consume a healthy source of inspiring content that gets your creative energy flowing and heightens your levels of motivation when you’re feeling low.
The podcast listed below will help cultivate and ignite your creative energy and generate inspiration for changes or additions in your career, your personal life, and your overall well-being.
Ctrl Alt Delete
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One of my favorite podcasts, I became completely engrossed from the minute I stumbled across it. Hosted by Emma Gannon, the weekly podcast came after the release of her debut novel by the same name, about growing up with advancing technologies and her life online. Every week, she interviews a different guest and they discuss a range of topics primarily surrounding social media, flexible working, mental health, the current climate and creating a life that works for you. A freelance superstar herself, Gannon is an awe-inspiring template for molding your ideal life, working less and creating more. Her second book The Multi-Hyphen Method covers just that – organizing your schedule conveniently and economically and making your side hustle or budding passion work for you. Some guests on the podcast include Candice Carty Williams, Jameela Jamil, and Farrah Storr. Every episode will leave you inspired, excited for change and motivated to streamline your life.
Creative Rebels
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This podcast is all about rebelling against the social strains around society and the expected regimented routine that we can feel forced into at times. The hosts, David Speed, and Adam Brazier started their own business back in 2010 called Graffiti Life. Starting out with many failures, they finally succeeded and now have multiple businesses and different sources of income. When everyone is telling you that you can’t do it, this duo is here to tell you that you definitely can and to inspire you to persevere and remain hard-working and hopeful. With weavings of their own rags to riches story, Speed and Brazier meet different guests each week and talk about building communities and businesses from nothing, including tips, tricks and enthusiasms around creative entrepreneurship along the way.
Being Boss
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When I discovered this podcast, I was marginally deterred by the name. I’m sure I’m not the only person that is a little tired of the #boss movement and the fetishization of success. However, I’m so glad I saw beyond my preconceptions and tuned in. In line with the theme, this podcast is for entrepreneurs, freelancers, and side-hustlers, looking for motivation to quit a day-job, become your own boss or finally monetize a passion. The hosts, Emily Thompson and Kathleen Shannon investigate entrepreneurial aspects of mindsets, habits, branding, and strategies to help you pursue a career doing what you love. The two ‘business-besties’ have also gone on to publish an interactive self-help guide that includes tools and tactics for being a boss. They talk about issues that are vital in today’s industries, from social media to rest and spirituality to scientific methodologies. This year the podcasts release changed from weekly to monthly, but there is still a massive archive to tune into and cultivate your creative energy.
How to Fail with Elizabeth Day
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What better way to get motivated then to reminisce on failures? It might seem an oxymoron, but surprisingly it works. Author and Journalist Elizabeth Day interview guests as they reflect on their biggest failures, appreciating that failing ultimately makes us stronger and that learning how to fail really means learning how to do better. Sometimes, if you’re in a creative slump, or you’re lacking motivation, it helps to hear of others’ fiascos to know that we are not alone in our disappointments. The beauty of this podcast is that it celebrates failure while trying to teach us to turn that failure into something better. Big or small, failure is something that we can all relate to, and this podcast is unifying in that belief. Previous guests include Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Raven Smith and Dolly Alderton. A path to success is often an unstable and harrowing road, that can be lonely and laborious, so whenever I’m feeling low this podcast is sure to perk me up. It’s filled with laughs and realities, of inspiring journeys and hardships, the ideal pick-me-up on a day where nothing seems to be going right. Ironically, with the huge success of this podcast, Day has released the book How to Fail: Everything I’ve Learned From Things Going Wrong, which has been hailed a must-read of 2019.
The Success Revolution
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This podcast really does what it says on the tin. Being successful is a revolution that’s soaring through our generation, leaving us unable to settle for anything considered mediocre. There is a surge in competitiveness and a uniting desire for power and success. But what this podcast highlights, is that success has a unique meaning to all of us, and no two versions of success are identical anymore. The host, Alice Olins, interviews different guests in each episode, with the overall goal to change the way we talk and think about success. Topics discussed envelope the journey into creative industries, challenges, self-belief, empowerment, and mental strength. This positive, motivating podcast wants you feeling successful no matter what that means to you.
