I remember when I was about eight years old and my mum was telling me about the new TV we were getting; she was bigging it up all like, “there’s this special thing on it that lets you read the weather and the news, whenever you want!”

I was so excited, I couldn’t get my head round it? What, would people speak to you, through the TV? Did everyone have this, or had the Turnbull family been specially selected as part of a national experiment?

Turns out, it was teletext guys – a pioneer if you will, of on-demand entertainment.

You should have seen how she bigged up getting Sky TV a few years later. I wasn’t falling for that schtick again. But, as it transpired, it was magical and life was never quite the same, ever again.

I’ve been fulling living the insta-entertainment life for years! Teletext, Sky and then the internet!  1998 was a good year, I could talk to someone in Australia at the touch of a button! But, obviously give me 5 minutes to let it dial up and you even think about making a phone call, I will kill you with my bare hands.

Combined with a love of all things radio, I think this is why I love Podcasts so much; the vast, incredible choice of audio wonderment – at my fingertips.

But with this love comes a feeling of overwhelming. I’m nervous. With over 525,000 podcasts* I’m scared I’m not going to be able to listen to them all, or miss the boat on a particularly good one and have to catch up….also how the frig am I supposed to fit other things in, like keeping up with the Radio, music…. LIFE. I just don’t have the time!

These thoughts often whirl into my head. Also, because I am of the anxious persuasion, all of this is amplified (*fist bump my fellow anxiety dudes*).

A few months ago I thought,

“Look Vic, you’re going to have to start doing something about this, the more it gives the heebeejeebees, the less you’ll listen to podcasts and it’s kind of a key part of being a podcast producer – pull yourself together.”

I decided to tackle this podcast listening conundrum by combining it with some other personal development bits and bobs. So, here’s how I’m making time to listen to podcasts, whilst improving my mental health at the same time…

Having a better sleeping routine
I desperately need to reduce the amount of blue light in my life and get better at sleeping – and I’ve read it’s all about how you set yourself up to sleep.

So, to get in the snoozy mc snooze snooze** zone, I listen to an episode of a podcast, whilst doing a bit of knitting***

Eating more fresh, home cooked food
I love cooking and this quiet, focused time is the perfect environment for a few sneaky episodes.

Also, batch cooking like a bitch is good for this too.

Keeping on top of the housework
Again, a perfect mundane task to get you focused on a podcast (Apart from when the hoover’s on)

Getting fit
I’m not a fan of listening to music in the gym or when I’m outside running. I’ll tell you for why – because I’ll know how long a song is, and when it ends, it makes me sad that I’ve only been exercising for like 3 minutes – do you know what I mean?

Podcasts can help remove the clock watching. I also find exercise deathly dull, so they keep  my brain entertained. Just don’t listen to true crime podcasts whilst you’re jogging around a park, like I did (makes you run faster though).

I know lots of people who listen to podcasts in the car or on the daily commute too.

All this now means, music and radio listening is now the soundtrack to stuff that requires a bit of concentration, like working and going to the shops.

So, this is how I’ve fitted podcast listening into my life – how will you fit it into yours?

 

* That data is from April 2018 from Fast Company (article here) – imagine that figure now

** Not a medical term. So don’t be going to the doctors saying ‘I’m having trouble getting in the snoozy mc snooze snooze’ zone

*** It’s super relaxing, trust me ****

**** and super sexy

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