A couple of years ago, I ran my first ever half-marathon. It was hard. The worst part wasn’t the run (which was AWFUL), it was the weeks of training leading up to the race. By week 12, I was sick of running. I didn’t want to run anymore.
After a few weeks of listening to the same songs, I tried something different. Instead of listening to my usual playlist full of fast songs to help me keep a good pace, I listened to podcasts.
I’ve never really been a podcast person—or even an audiobook person. My mind starts to lose concentration and I have to rewind and replay so many times. It’s not even worth it for me to begin. However, I discovered some awesome podcasts that started to get me through those 1-hour and 2-hour runs (until I ran out of episodes and had to switch back to music).
The History Chicks
My sister-in-law turned me onto this podcast. I woke up one morning with a text from her (I had already gone to bed when she sent it) telling me that I should needed to download the podcast and start listening. I trust my sister-in-law so I started listening.
The History Chicks take a famous woman (or group of women) from history and follow them through their life filling in information on the life and the times, as well as their great accomplishments or why they’re so well known. The History Chicks spend hours doing painstaking research and sometimes will even admit when they’re unsure of the accuracy of the information they have.
While I skipped a few of their movie and book reviews (too much commentary, not enough talking about the differences between the movie and real life), I loved each episode.
The Back Side of Water
Have I professed my love of all things Disney? Including Disneyland?
If I haven’t, I’ve been remiss in sharing.
For the past few years, it seems like I’ve made a yearly excursion to either California or Florida for the express purpose of going to a Disney park. 2018 may be the first year where that doesn’t happen, but that’s okay.
After one eventful trip, I came back wanting to find a way to keep the magic below. And I found it in this podcast:
I don’t listen to it regularly, but whenever I do, I’m so glad that I did. Alex and Harrison are hilarious and the episodes aren’t very long (15 to 30 minutes).
Each episode goes systematically through the park talking about each area with the episodes following highlighting a specific attraction in that area of the park. So you learn about Adventureland before diving into the Enchanted Tiki Room, Trader Sam’s, and then the Jungle Cruise.
Any Disney fan should start listening. Now.
Love Life with Matthew Hussey
I read Matthew Hussey’s book, “How to Get the Guy”. I’ve watched his videos. My friends and I love to discuss his advice and then implement it in our dating experiences.
But these short clips talk about things beyond just dating. He talks about having confidence and finding your passions, along with how to respond to a guy via text.
This ran from July 2016 through March 2017. It no longer updates, but for any single girl, it’s definitely worth a listen.
Serial
I know. It’s cliche to add Serial to the list. Plenty of people have talked about this podcast. I want to say that Serial set up a podcast revolution.
I liked the first season more than the second season. I think it’s because I love a good murder mystery. I waited for each episode. It was just so good.
I’ve tried other murder mystery podcasts, but nothing has reached the level of obsession that I have with Serial. My only complaint is that it takes so long for each season to come out. I guess that’s what it takes with a well produced show.
Radical Candor
Last year, I got a promotion at work. While many would take this as “Ooo.. now I’m a big deal,” I’m more of the person to worry about whether I’m doing things right. It’s my first time as a manager and trying to navigate all the ins and outs has been somewhere in between nerve wracking and disastrous.
Someone suggested that I read Radical Candor. I’m on my second read.
But I was so grateful to learn that there was a podcast where the author, Kim Scott, and Russ Laraway (co-founder of Radical Candor, Inc) dive a little deeper into important aspects of Radical Candor.
Unfortunately, the podcast ran 24 episodes, but still – for a first time manager, these have been super helpful as I’ve tried to figure out what the heck I’m doing.
Do you have a favorite podcast? What should I add to my library?
