Podcasts – learning on the go, wherever you are
Right after the first iPhone came out (so somewhere around a decade ago), the company issued me an iPod Touch at work. That way, I could have the experience of working with the phones that many of our users were getting. I didn’t need a company phone at that time. Podcasts were still in their infancy at that time, but I was intrigued by the promise of learning wherever I happened to be. At that time, iTunes was where you went to learn about podcasts, so to iTunes I went. I found a couple of technology offerings, a couple on personal finance, and some on politics. Each of them mentioned others, and some were worth adding to the mix. Others were just not for me.
Here we are ten years later and still listening to podcasts. They’ve shifted, and some are still in my playlist. However, I have replaced some others with new offerings as my interests changed. Still others have “podfaded,” or just drifted off into oblivion as their creators stopped producing new episodes for some reason. This is my list of podcasts that I listen to (an hour-long one way commute is the only way I can accommodate a list this size). An asterisk indicates one of the earliest ones I found.
Lifestyle podcasts
The Art of Manliness: Brett McKay interviews authors of fascinating books. It’s evident that he does a careful reading of the book before the interview. As a result of these podcasts I’ve learned a lot about being a deeper person. Very few of his episodes are strictly male-centric. I’ve purchased quite a few books for gifts and some for myself after hearing an interview with this author.
The Survival Podcast: Jack Spirko started this podcast from his Volkswagon Jetta during his hour-long commute. Ten years and 2500 episodes later he’s still teaching and entertaining. It’s not by any means about doomsday prepping. Jack’s premise is that the things we do every day should become part of our preparation for times that may not be so pleasant. Everyday cooking, gardening, fishing, powering your home, livestock, these are the sorts of things that we use for survival. Jack also answers listeners’ questions that come in on the recorded line and by email.
The Unpodcast: Scott Stratton and Alison Kramer present the best and worst customer relations stories. I’m not employed in customer service, but when you think about it, every job is customer service in some form. Scott and Alison present news items about companies that are getting it exactly right and some that are supremely blowing it. Through these stories, they have helped me learn more about serving people well.
You Wanna Do What?: One of my recent adds, Monica Rivera started an experiment that has turned out quite well. While challenging herself to do things, she’s also helping her listeners overcome their mental barriers to enlarge their lives.
Choiceology: Hosted by Dan Heath and presented by Charles Schwab, this was hopefully the first of many seasons to come. It’s now on hiatus, I hope, and will return soon, I hope. This podcast explored the many criteria people use to make choices. It. Was. FASCINATING!
Politics/Current Events/Public Policy podcasts
*Cato Daily Podcast: Various presenters, but primarily Caleb Brown.Nonpartisan discussions and presentations about current events and public policy. These podcasts have helped me see through the partisan politics that clouded my opinions for a long time.
*Planet Money: This podcast has shifted through several host teams, and it has provided a springboard to a number of interns. Planet Money started shortly after the meltdown in 2008, as an experiment to help non-economists understand what was happening in the economy. Now ten years past the pop of the real estate bubble, the topics now explore many other economic aspects of daily life.
Shattered: Black Friday: Produced by WDIV TV and hosted by reporter Jeremy Allen, the podcast explores the heartbreaking, unsolved case of the disappearance of three children in Michigan. It is now in suspension unless and until new information breaks in the case. The unfortunate part of it is that the boys are related to one of the other podcasters in my list.
Self Improvement/Personal Development podcasts
Early to Rise Radio: Craig Ballantyne expounds ways that we can build our lives and our businesses, if we have them. The thing I’ve learned from this podcast is that most of the personal growth we need to do to build a business will grow us even if we don’t have a business.
Great Escape Radio:Travel Writing/Photography/Publishing: Brought to you by Lori Allen from Great Escape Publishing, which offers material to help writers and photographers get better at either or both. This podcast is not a technical offering, but your skills will improve by applying what you learn here.
Investing for Beginners: Andrew Sather and Dave Ahern talk about investing–for beginners–really! This is the first investing material I have ever heard that is actually presented for people who know little or nothing about investing in the stock market.
The EntreLeadership Podcast: Ken Coleman hosts this show about principle-centered leadership. The EntreLeadership Podcast grew from Dave Ramsey’s book by the same name.
The Ray Edwards Show: hosted by, well, Ray Edwards. Ray was a copywriter for many years, and now he teaches copywriting and consults on copy for clients on individual bases. He’s also dealing very gracefully and courageously with Parkinsons, and he talks about it without dwelling on it. His podcast isn’t really about copywriting, although it does often present valuable information on how to best help our customers understand what we do. However, he also talks about the technology and productivity tools he uses, and sometimes just things he’s learned that help him live better.
Side Hustle School: Chris Guillebeau, of the Art of Non-Conformity and the World Domination Summit, hosts. He spends a few minutes every day showcasing someone who has taken an idea and parlayed it into a consistent income-producer. Periodically he also throws in tips to improve a specific area of hustling.
Smart Passive Income: Pat Flynn started this as a way to share the things he learned about using the internet to make a living. He teaches how to create something that people consume on their own time, hence “passive income.”
Profit Boss Radio: Hilary Hendershott is a certified financial planner. Her podcast provides stories from women who have overcome difficult odds, or whose work brings them some particular insight that women can use to help them increase their wealth-building opportunities. Hilary speaks primarily to women, but obviously her advice is not exclusive to women.
Wealthsteading: John Pugliano is a wealth manager who offers common sense words on making smart money decisions. John is one of the Experts on the Experts Council of The Survival Podcast. Episodes 1 through 10 are basic wealth-building principles.
Technology podcasts
*Geek News Central: Todd Cochrane was one of the early adopters of this new medium. Twice a week he shares tech news and commentary, along with a few personal stories.
Going Linux: Larry Bushy and co-host Bill offer tips for people trying to learn how to get the most out of the Linux operating system. The both have full time jobs, so their production schedule is twice monthly. Going Linux has a four-episode cycle. Episode one is a beginner’s topic, and episode three is a more advanced topic, Episodes two and four are dedicated to listener feedback show. They also take the time to respond to questions and comments between episodes, which is really awesome!
Inside Out Security: Security firm Varonis provides tech security news and commentary, as well as practical information to help us better protect ourselves from the cyber-nasties.
IRL: Online Life is Real Life: Hosted by Veronica Belmont and produced by Mozilla (the makers of the Firefox web browser). IRL shows us how cyberspace has evolved and is no longer a place separate from our “real live.”
*Mike Tech Show: When I first started listening to Mike Smith’s Mike Tech Show, he was working as a network administrator for a large company. He was also providing services to small businesses and residential customers after his work day. When he was laid off from his position, he was able to pivot his side business into a full time consultancy. He never lost a beat with his podcast. He offers useful information from his experiences and from his listeners on both resolving technical issues and running a tech support business. Mike was one of the very first podcasts I started with.
Moon Law: Brought to us by Alan Blanco and Kris Harris, Moon Law is a deep thought experience with a space-based premise. Not every episode is dedicated exclusively to space. Many episodes are “what if” premises, applying Earth thought, often distinctly American thought, to life on other celestial bodies. Alan is a lawyer and Kris is an artist and programmer, so the conversations are thoroughly interesting.
The Podcast: Radek Pietruszewski and Michael Sliwinski, principal players at Nozbe, a productivity application based on the Getting Things Done methodology. Their topics cover pretty much everything the hosts might be interested in. It’s heavy on the technology subjects, but not exclusively tech.
Security Now: Steve Gibson, the guy behind Gibson Research, is a programmer and security researcher. He’s also the creator of SpinRite, a hard drive repair utility for Windows computers. Steve digs deep into security issues and dissects them into byte-sized pieces for those of us that aren’t quite that geeky.
Threatpost Podcast: With a variety of hosts, Threatpost from Kaspersky labs explores technology security trends and issues.
Troy Hunt’s Weekly Update: Troy is a security expert from Australia. He reports on current security trends, tells what we need to watch for, and what we need to do to stay cyber safe.
*Sophos Podcast: Sophos Labs produces antivirus and security products. They talk about security current events and how we should deal with them.
Tech-Vets: hosted by Mike Smith (from the Mike Tech Show) and Carey Holzman, former co-host of Computer America, a weekly radio show. Carey and Craig Crossman, the other host of Computer America, had Mike on the show several times. Mike and Carey joined forces to create Tech-Vets. Professional obligations make it difficult for them to coordinate schedules to produce episodes very often, but each is a worthwhile listen. Carey specializes in residential customers in Arizona, with a clientele that is not exceptionally tech-savy. Mike works mainly with small businesses. As such, their individual approaches differ. They also have very different personalities, and they offer very different advice on some situations. On others, they agree wholeheartedly. We really never know what to expect, but there is always a lot of value.
Takeaways
I have a broad range of interests, and my commute gives me a lot of opportunity to feed all of them. Are there any on this list that you find intriguing? What do you listen to? Share in the comments!