Stop listening to music on your phone!
Don’t get me wrong, I love music (my Google Play Music monthly subscription confirms that). It’s relaxing, it helps with creativity and focus. But I find myself more and more listening to music on my phone while working out, going to the store, cycling to the city and other mundane tasks that seem to repeat every day. And I somehow feel that that time is wasted.
Podcasts to the rescue!
Podcasts are audio episodes that people record and share online for anyone to listen to. You can look at them as internet radio shows. And boy are there a lot! Josh Morgan calculated, in his post, that as of June 2015, there were more than 60.000 podcasts listed in the US iTunes Podcast section. That is a whopping number, and one that could expand even more if you add podcasts that are from other markets, and ones that are not listed on iTunes. And you can choose from a range of categories to listen to: music, sports, politics, gaming, and my favorite, entrepreneurship.
I see this as a fit opportunity to listen to fellow entrepreneurs tell the story of their endeavors as they battle crowdfunding, take on overseas markets and invent revolutionary solutions. Just by listening to an interview of someone who has succeeded or failed in the startup world, you learn a lot! I constantly find myself taking down notes as I listen, because all sorts of ideas pop into my head. Think about mixing your creativity with the experience of someone else, and magical things start to happen!
How to listen to podcasts?
Well, one obvious way is via the already mentioned iTunes software, but never get limited to one! There are tons of other podcast players out there, my favorite being Podcast Addict for Android. You can look at top trending podcasts, search for your favorites and download them offline for easy listening.
Recommendations
Since I really look up to Virgin as a great company, I love their podcast and regularly listen to it. It is young and has so far only 11 episodes, but damn they have great guests, and are soon planing on talking to Richard Branson himself! Find the podcast here!
Looking for more nerdy podcasts? Check out Nerdist, they have awesome and totally random topics that you would never expect!
Summa summarum, while you are doing mechanical activities that require no large amounts of brain usage, listen to podcasts, and learn in your free time!
